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WALTER RUSSELL LAMBUTH 











































WALTER RUSSELL LAMBUTH 

M.A., EMORY AND HENRY COLLEGE, 1875; M.D., VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY, 1377, BELLE¬ 
VUE HOSPITAL MEDICAL COLLEGE, 1881; D.D., EMORY COLLEGE, 1892, RANDOLPH 
MACON COLLEGE. 1892: FELLOW OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY 




WALTER RUSSELL 
LAMBUTH 


PROPHET AND PIONEER 



W. W. PINSON 




NASHVILLE, TENN. 
COKESBURY PRESS 

1914 





'BX^S 


Copyright, 1923 

BY 

Lamar & Barton 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


©C1A&14019 


•^0 \ 




DEDICATION 


To all children of Wesley who still cry 
his ringing challenge 

“The World Is My Parish" 

who hold the common faith and purpose of a divided 
Methodism, and who yearn for the unrealized 
power of a reunited Methodism 

“To Spread Scripural Holiness over All Lands' * 

this story of a kindred spirit 
is affectionately inscribed 






\ 

















PROEM 

A HERO PASSES 


Didst see a hero pass this way, 

Whose course nor ease nor pain might stay; 
With eye on far horizons bent, 

And brow hard-knit with high intent; 

His strength in daring deeds forspent— 

For love of men, for love of God, 
Forth-faring where the martyrs trod? 

I saw a man with gentle mien, 

Of lofty moods with smiles between— 

A rare and radiant man I ween; 

A man to whom the children clung, 

Whose charm the poor and aged sung; 

A comrade humble men among, 

But ne’er a hero have I known— 

Since when have heroes common grown? 


So dull of sight! So coarse our clay! 

So sodden are our souls, I say! 

A hero comes—we see a man: 

He brings a world—we see a span; 

He passes, and a glory bright. 

But leaves us blinking in its light! 

Too late we know, too late—at last, 

That all unknown a hero passed. 

No marvel—for it needs must be 

That men must share what they would see— 

He only sees a landscape whole 

Who bears all landscapes in his soul; 

A hero passes—who shall know 
That feels no kindred passion glow, 

But thralled and holden sees him go? 

’Tis well, if late, with tear-washed eyes, 

We see the radiance where it lies 
About the finished sacrifice, 

And in that chastened vision greet 
Full-orbed a hero’s life complete; 

Then yield us bondmen to its sway, 

Till children’s children mark the day 
On which a hero passed this way. 

—The Author. 

( 7 ) 















INTRODUCTION 


It is difficult to avoid the suspicion that in present- 
day thinking individuality counts for less than it 
did two or three generations ago. Nevertheless one 
penetrates to the sources of the missionary enterprise 
only to find himself in the realm of biography. The 
forces of record are those of personality—the con¬ 
viction, the sacrifice, the faith of the individual. 
The change is striking. Constructive organization, 
the sure result of the personal forces, has become 
system, and, however significant in fact the unit 
may still be, the stress of emphasis is upon process 
and program rather than upon persons. This 
tendency of thought is likely logical; it is none the 
less, if left unnoticed or uncorrected, most perilous. 

When then, amid the “organization of forces,” 
“the streams of tendency,” the “complexes,” and, 
if you will, the “perplexes,” which constrain and 
control our ranges of action we find ourselves con¬ 
scious of a real personality, our day is brightened 
and our spirits are lifted. Here is undoubtedly a 
gift of God, and he who focuses the light upon 
such a man, as does Dr. Pinson in this biography 
of Bishop Lambuth, should be ranked among our 
benefactors. 

The ideals and convictions, which form the very 
fabric of this life are the common possession of 
those who accept the Gospel of Christ and live it. 
Who more promptly than Bishop Lambuth would 
deny that he had access to any mysterious source of 

( 9 ) 




10 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


spiritual truth or energy that is not open to every 
true disciple of his Master and ours? 

Frankly, Walter R. Lambuth was a birthright 
missionary. He seemed to have by inheritance what 
others—sometimes slowly—acquire: the zest for the 
kingdom. It is true that he was through the years 
of varied service enriched by his experiences in many 
lands, and that these riches he distributed lavishly. 
But back of these achievements and possessions was 
the sanctified curiosity of the spiritual pioneer. 
Like other men—none too many it is true—whose 
paths, breaking from the beaten ways, have woven 
into the dark pattern of the centuries threads of 
light which never grow dim, he felt the urgency of 
the cross, the cross which meant to him the suffering 
love of God in Christ and the self-surrender of the 
soul to the unfaltering obedience to that love. The 
apostolic purpose was in his blood. He began early 
to be a missionary. It is probable that he learned his 
geography in the terms of mission lands. One 
wonders if he could himself tell when first he heard 
the words which, once heard, turn disciples into 
apostles, “Behold, I send you forth!” 

The story of this potent life crosses many lands: 
South America, Africa, the Far East, Europe. It 
passed through a zone of national and racial wonders: 
A modernized Japan, the tragedy of patriotism in 
Korea, Manchuria flung open, China in revolution 
political and educational, a national renaissance in 
India, tribal Africa under the hand of European 
government, Latin America grouped for new enter¬ 
prise in government and trade, Europe distressed, 
broken, restless, reorganizing. He moved amid the 


Introduction 


11 


agitations of the world. We remember the quietness 
of his courage, the far reaches of his faith, the prompt 
acceptance of new and perilous tasks. He was a 
sturdy spirit in a shaken world! His comrades in 
service will not fail to remember that the return from 
his wide journeying ever brought him into familiar 
places. He carried his country and his Church in 
his heart, however far afield he went. Even in his 
absences, his influence for the high ideals of patriot¬ 
ism and for the broadest policies of the Church was 
potent. The news from a far country which he 
brought was not reckoned as the surprising revela¬ 
tions of a stranger; it was the friendly, homely report 
of a familiar friend. His relation with the affairs of 
the American Churches, Methodist and other, was 
so intimate that his messages of fact and interpreta¬ 
tion tended strongly, if so bold a phrase may be 
ventured, to domesticate the idea of foreign missions. 
Far beyond the limits of his own Church, which 
loved and honored him, the Church to which he was 
ever loyal, beyond those fellowships with that other 
branch of Methodism, which counted him as one of its 
own and to which he was ever fraternal and generous, 
in that remarkable missionary association of the 
evangelical denominations, where the differences 
fade and are well-nigh forgotten and the essential 
unity in a common service for the world is the central 
fact, he was ever welcome and at home. 

His sense of the unity of the missionary work of 
the two Episcopal Methodisms was expressed in a 
most practical way. We find in the report of the 
Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
for 1886 the following record: “During the entire 


12 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


year we have had assistance in nearly every depart¬ 
ment of work from that earnest Christian and de¬ 
voted missionary, Dr. W. R. Lambuth, of the Meth¬ 
odist Episcopal Church, South, who was obliged to 
come north for the health of his family. He cast 
in his lot with us, and by his successful labors has 
established for us one of the most interesting medical 
works ever undertaken in Peking.” 

Two bits of missionary literature, characteristic 
in title and content, are before me as I write. One 
is “ Pushing toward the Pole.” It briefly records the 
opening of work in Siberia. Bishop Lambuth said: 
“I realize that I am making my last trip in the 
Orient. . . . But I have had a part in the founding 
of our missions in Japan and Africa, and now I will 
feel satisfied if I can lay the foundation of this work 
in Siberia and Manchuria. The doctors told me not 
to come, stating that I must go under the knife and 
then stay in the hospital for sixty days. But I want 
to found this mission first. Then I will be satisfied.*’ 
The other leaflet is entitled “The Call of Africa.** 
He closes the thrilling narrative with a prayer in 
which are these words: “We thank Thee, O Son of 
God, for pioneers and martyrs who have laid down 
their lives to open a highway for the coming of the 
King.” In this biography of Bishop Lambuth, one 
who knew him, who loved him, who cherishes his 
memory, a kindred spirit, tells the story of a “pio¬ 
neer and a martyr who laid down his life to open a 
highway for the coming of the King.** Here was a 
great life. Its story will be kept among the treasures 
of the faith. Frank Mason North. 

New York, September 24, 1924. 


CONTENTS 


Page 

Proem. 7 

Introduction. 9 

Chapter 

I. A Baby and a Bale of Cotton. 15 

II. The Garden in the East. 23 

III. A Voyage of Discovery. 35 

IV. Attacking Goliath with a Lancet. 51 

V. One Soweth and Another Reapeth. 61 

. VI. The Regions Beyond. 72 

VII. Following the Gleam. 97 

VIII. Beginning at Jerusalem. 108 

IX. Bishop and Pathfinder. 120 

X. Facing the Jungle. 131 

XI. Back to the Congo Valley. 147 

XII. Meekness in Armor. 159 

XIII. Sharing the Trenches. 169 

XIV. Among the Yellow Folks Again. 187 

XV. An Overflowing Life. 202 

XVI. The Unuttered Message. 222 

XVII. Sunset in the Land of the Rising Sun. 232 

XVIII. A Prophet Not Without Honor. 243 


( 13 ) 




































* 



















Walter Russell Lambuth 


CHAPTER I 

T 

A BABY AND A BALE OF COTTON 

“Earth’s crammed with heaven 
And every common bush afire with God; 

But only he who sees takes off his shoes. 

The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.” 

— E. B. Browning. 

We are about to attempt the story of a man—not 
a character we create, but one that has been created 
for us, who came to us, lived among us, spoke his 
word, did his deed, and passed. To set down dates, 
to name places, and put our clumsy fingers on this or 
that and say, “See here is what happened, this is the 
thing he said or did, and when and where,” is a dull 
and profitless business, and comes at last to an in¬ 
coherent mass of mere stuff. If we, in our limitations, 
can do no more than this, it is well, if the stuff be 
fine and human. The track of a mastodon in the 
rock is only a track, but it is more to see than the 
track of a rabbit in the snow. 

We must begin somewhere, and where else can we 
begin save with a baby? History is carried forward 
in a succession of babies. Well, then, in the quaint 
old city of Shanghai, China, on November 10, 1854, 
a baby was born to Dr. J. W. and Mrs. M. I. Lambuth. 
The mother looked into his blue eyes and wrote: “At 
about 9 o’clock this morning a dear little son was put 

( 15 ) 



16 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


into my arms for a blessing to us.” She named him 
Walter Russell—and more; but that was all he need¬ 
ed, and so it became Walter Russell and to many 
friends and lovers merely Walter. 

This is a good starting point; but we cannot pos¬ 
sibly start here without looking both ways, back and 
forward. How came this American baby to be born 
in China? That is asking a lot. It is like a flower in 
a crannied wall. Nobody can tell all about it. 
Its past is too long and too splendid. This much we 
know without being told—there are reasons why this 
baby was born in China rather than in America, just 
as there were reasons why he was named Walter 
Lambuth instead of some other name. 

Two generations back another baby was born in 
Hanover County, Va. He became the Rev. William 
Lambuth (then spelled Lambeth) and a member of the 
Baltimore Conference. Bishop Asbury (when shall 
we ever be done with him?) put his busy hand into 
the succession of facts in 1800, and sent William to 
preach to the Indians “in the wilds of Tennessee.” 
Itinerants in those days went where they were sent. 
For one thing, any place was about as good or as 
bad as any other. This “little preacher in the wil¬ 
derness fulfilled his commission in the far West amid 
the Indians of Tennessee and Kentucky, closing a 
spotless record near Fountain Head, in Wilson 
County, Tenn., in 1837.” Here a son had been born 
to him in the first year of the nineteenth century, and 
he was christened John Russell. At the age of six¬ 
teen he was preaching and at twenty joined the 
Kentucky Conference. He volunteered for mission¬ 
ary work among the Creoles and other Indians of 


A Baby and a Bale of Cotton 


17 


Louisiana and set out on the trail of the pioneer 
to the far South. 

In 1830 he was holding a camp meeting in Greene 
County, Ala. Suddenly, without warning, he left 
the meeting. When he returned he made this unique 
announcement: “I was called home by the birth of a 
baby boy. In heartfelt gratitude to God I dedicated 
the child to the Lord as a foreign missionary, and I 
now add a bale of cotton to send him with.” Quaint? 
Yes, but a type of quaintness by means of which 
noble souls get levers under this world and lift it 
without knowing it. When our historians learn to 
interpret facts like that we shall be well on our way 
to the millennium. This was in the morning of the 
modern missionary era. 

Alexander Duff, after being twice shipwrecked, 
had just reached Calcutta. William Carey in India 
and Robert Morrison in China were still at work. 
Adoniram Judson, wearing the fresh scars of five 
pairs of irons, was planning a renewed attempt at the 
evangelization of Burma. It was just sixteen years 
since Robert Morrison had won his first convert in 
China, eleven years since the Methodist Missionary 
Society was organized in New York, and eighteen 
years before the first missionary of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, Dr. Charles Taylor, sailed 
for China. He had studied in New York when Pro¬ 
fessor Morse was working on his invention of the 
electric telegraph, and had assisted Morse in the 
initial stages of his world-transforming discovery. 
The traditions of the launching of the first steamboat, 
“The Clermont,” on the Hudson in 1807, were still 
fresh. Ocean navigation by steam was just emerging 
2 


18 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


in its experimental stage. The world was growing 
smaller. It was little more than a decade before the 
unholy Opium War between Great Britain and China 
had opened five ports of China to foreign ingress. 

There are mountain peaks that flame with the 
light of the morning while the lowlands are still 
unconsciously sleeping in the shadows. There are 
likewise tall men whose alert spirits give back the 
glow of new eras, and are stirred by the thrill of 
God’s creative hours, while the dull, dead levels of 
mankind sleep, all unconscious that old eras are 
dying and new ones are being born. This was an 
hour when Providence was rewriting the Great Com¬ 
mission in the vast syllables of war and trade and 
tamed lightning and conquered oceans, that spelled 
the reign of Christian brotherhood or the sad ruin of 
pagan brutality. 

A baby and a bale of cotton! The baby was named 
James William. He was reared in Mississippi, in 
Madison County. The family church was Pearl 
River Church in Madison Circuit. A simple monu¬ 
ment erected to his memory by neighborhood con¬ 
tributions tells the story of the honor in which he 
was held in that country where so few landmarks of 
a vanishing past remain either human or material. 
The tides of prosperity are going out, and with them 
the folks that counted in those early days. The very 
Church is threatened with abandonment to the 
colored folks to whose ancestors the Lambuths 
preached. 

James William Lambuth grew up among the 
planters, became a preacher, and began by preaching 


A Baby and a Bale of Cotton 


19 


to the negroes in their log cabins. When the appeal 
for China reached him he said simply, “I will go.” 

This was the father of Walter Lambuth, with the 
missionary passion of three generations beating in his 
blood and the heroic traditions of those hardy an¬ 
cestors on horseback blowing their bugles in his soul. 

Youth and love and romance were in Mississippi 
then as now. A young woman had come all the way 
from New York State to act as governess or school¬ 
teacher. Her name was Mary I. McClellan. The 
young preacher, J. W. Lambuth, had won her heart 
and hand. At a missionary anniversary of the Mis¬ 
sissippi Conference this young woman put a card in 
the collection basket which read, “I give five dollars 
and myself.” Who shall say that gift did not out¬ 
rank a bale of cotton and a boy? 

The blood of the Covenanters was in her veins. 
Her name was a good Scotch name and had the ring 
of steel in it. She was descended from the Gordons 
and McClellans in Scotland. Between the families of 
John McClellan and Nicola Gordon of Strathbogie 
an alliance of love had been formed. This was dis¬ 
approved by the proud and powerful Gordon Clan. 
The Duke disinherited two of his daughters, who 
accepted the new freedom and democracy thus thrust 
upon them and came to America. 

The Gordons led a turbulent career for three 
hundred years of wars, rebellions, imprisonments, 
beheadings. One was a defender of James II., 
another of Edward I., another of Charles I. Flodden 
Field and the “Gordon Riots” against the Catholics 
are in the Clan Annals. There was the stain of iron 
in the Scotch granite of Mary McClellan’s character. 


20 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


No wonder when reverses came she left her home in 
Washington County, N. Y., and ventured to try her 
fortunes in the far South. Grover Cleveland was on 
her family tree on her mother’s side and Gen. George 
B. McClellan on the father’s side. She was of the 
stuff for great adventures, and she never faltered nor 
grew weary of her bargain of five dollars and her life 
for China till she laid her toil-worn body to rest in 
China after a life of great and unselfish service in the 
Orient. 

Thus these parents of Walter R. Lambuth made 
the great venture of faith and turned their brave 
young faces toward China, when being a missionary 
in that land of distance and mystery meant much 
more than now. They had come together and to a 
common purpose through a strange chain of events: 
He from an English ancestry by way of Virginia, 
along the trail of the pioneers, by the weary journeys 
of the itinerant westward and southward; she from 
Micklemon, Scotland, by way of New York, pushed 
by an irate father’s wrath on her grandmother’s side, 
and by business misfortunes and a dauntless courage; 
he the third generation of itinerant preachers, the 
urge of whose missionary passion had pushed them 
through the western and southern wilderness and was 
now yearning across the wide Pacific; she with the 
martyr strains of Smithfield and Greyfriars singing 
in her soul. 

They said farewell and sailed in the “Ariel,” a 
small sailing vessel, about 10 A.M., May 6, 1854, from 
New York. There were no luxurious steamships 
then, with quick, smooth journey. They were to 
“sail and drift” 16,000 miles down the Atlantic, across 


A Baby and a Bale of Cotton 


21 


the equator, around the Cape of Good Hope, around 
the Continent of Africa, up through the Indian 
Ocean, across the equator again, among the Islands 
of Maylasia, out by the Philippines, and up through 
the China Sea. Through storm and calm, nausea and 
monotonous weariness, with bad water, mouldy 
bread, cramped quarters, and suffocating heat for 
135 days they sailed and drifted on their heroic 
journey. Then China! Within two months the 
baby was to be born who is the subject of this story. 

What a parentage! What converging line of in¬ 
fluence! What mysterious conjunctions of events! 
We may not know by what means God transports 
his accumulating purpose across the centuries. Does 
he raft them down the rivers of the blood, store them 
in the gray mystery of the brain and nerve fiber, 
keep them singing their martial melodies in the 
traditions of home and fireside, or waft them on the 
winds of Pentecost? They talk learnedly of heredity 
and learnedly or otherwise of eugenics, and latterly 
of the emotion of the ideal. It is interesting. It 
serves to keep us guessing and furnishes something 
to call by the august name of science. This we know, 
that God does not allow the frontiers of a generation 
to bar the ongoing of his plan. It may take him four 
generations to get his message embodied in word or 
deed. He is patient. 

This infant, born in a foreign land, accepted by his 
pious mother as a gift of God, brings with him a 
heritage from a strangely prophetic past. Two per¬ 
sistent currents have met and held their way across 
three generations. The urge and daring of the 
pioneer and the vision and passion of the missionary 


22 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


have pushed their widening way across strange seas, 
through a new continent, over the trackless wilder¬ 
ness, sharing the shack of the frontiersman and the 
wigwam of the Indian and the cabin of the black 
slave—on, on, and on round the world, and now on 
this November morning they flow across the bound¬ 
ary of a fourth generation in the disguise of a helpless 
blue-eyed baby. Did Paul have in mind some such 
thought when he reminded Timothy of the “gift 
of God” which was in him, “which dwelt first in thy 
mother Eunice”? In the presence of this perpetual 
miracle we should feel no surprise that Jesus saw in 
the wondering eyes of childhood the perpetual 
dawning of the kingdom of heaven and in their in¬ 
nocent and unconscious personalities the potencies 
before which kings must bow and the values by 
which all values are to be tested. Nor are we sur¬ 
prised when this young mother welcomes her first¬ 
born with thanksgiving and accepts the responsibility 
of motherhood with a prayer. After a month’s 
brooding over little Walter she writes to friends at 
home: “One month ago dear little Walter came to our 
hearts and arms. He is a lovely babe and we are 
thankful to have his presence. May God make us 
able to care for and train him for Jesus!” It is an 
easy forecast that the divine compulsion will not 
lose momentum at the margin of this fourth genera¬ 
tion. 


CHAPTER II 

THE GARDEN IN THE EAST 

“And the Lord God planted a garden eastward." (Gen. ii. 

8 .) 

Little Walter had begun life in the enjoyment of 
that fundamental right of every baby, that of being 
well-born. It was also granted him to be born to 
conditions favorable to the continuance of the 
education begun three hundred years before. His 
discovery of the planet was made in a Chinese house 
amid the simple life and small economics of the 
missionaries of seventy years ago. There had been 
planted “a garden eastward,’’ God’s greatest garden 
of souls, a cultured Christian home. 

Take a look at him lying in his crib, if crib there 
was—his wide blue eyes upon his mother, who sat 
with a book in one hand while she tended him with 
the other, and about her the eager faces of a group 
of Chinese girls. She is working at the task of mis¬ 
sions with both hands. The earliest dawning of 
consciousness recorded such impressions. The first 
interrogations of his awakening mind were centered 
about this mother and her book and the yellow 
people. His first friendships, playmates, and loves 
were formed among these gentle folks of a strange 
land. 

Bishop Lambuth was wont to say that his earliest 
recollection was that of catching little crabs which 
came up under the porch of the mission house in 

(23) 


24 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


Shanghai. This was done while lying on his stomach 
on a straw mat. Beside him was Mo-ta-ta, his 
playmate, whom his mother had found in the grass 
when a baby and rescued from the death from small¬ 
pox to which her parents had abandoned her. She 
grew to be a fine Christian woman and was the 
mother of a daughter who became the first wife of 
Baron Yun Chi Ho of Korea. While the crab-fishing 
was going on with the little American boy and Mo- 
ta-ta, Mrs. J. W. Lambuth was teaching the Chinese 
women and girls how to sew and having them memo¬ 
rize hymns and texts of scripture. 

The next thing he remembers is an eclipse of the 
moon. While this was going on a terrible din was 
heard or^ the streets and all over the city. It 
was made by the Chinese, who were beating gongs 
and firing off firecrackers to frighten away the wild 
moon that was supposed to be swallowing the tame 
one. The cook, who was a heathen, ran into the 
house from the yard at about the height of the eclipse, 
when the moon was at her darkest, and exclaimed 
that the tame moon was about gone. Then when 
little Walter’s mother explained what an eclipse 
was, his superstitious fears were dissipated and 
with the coming out of the moon in her full splendor 
he seemed satisfied that her explanation was the 
truth. Several years afterwards Mrs. Lambuth wrote 
an astronomy in Chinese, which helped the people 
better to understanding the movements of the 
heavenly bodies. 

Walter early had to wrestle with that of which he was 
to know so much later—separation from loved ones. 
When he was nearly four years old his mother wrote: 


The Garden in the East 


25 


'* Little Walter seems lost without papa, he having 
gone into the country to visit and preach to the 
people.” This was doubtless one of his first heart 
problems, even as it was one of his last, for he was 
beginning the hard lesson of a love greater than that 
of father and mother and home. 

When Walter was about six years old his father 
took him into the walled city to church. A picture 
book was taken along with which to amuse him while 
his father was conducting the service. For fear the 
little boy might go to sleep and fall off the bench, 
Dr. Lambuth placed a stool in the old-fashioned 
pulpit, which had a door on each side, and told 
Walter to sit on that and look at his book until the 
sermon was over. Closing the doors behind him, 
little Walter was shut up like a jack-in-the-box. For 
a while he kept as quiet as a mouse and turned the 
leaves of the book, looking at each picture with much 
interest. The sermon was long, he got tired, gave a 
big yawn, got up on the stool on tiptoes, peeped over 
the top of the pulpit until the tip of his nose could 
just be seen, and began to sing “There is a happy 
land, far, far away.” His father stopped in the mid¬ 
dle of his sermon, turned round to look, when the 
whole Chinese congregation broke out in a laugh, and 
it nearly broke up the meeting. 

That was a great day when he was bundled up and 
tucked away in a house boat for a journey—his first 
with his father. “Walter went with his father in 
the house boat to Soochow, beginning his missionary 
work when four years old. For the Chinese were al¬ 
ways more willing to hear and ready to buy tracts 
when the foreign child was along.” Thus wrote the 


26 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


mother, suffering her first loneliness for her boy and 
cherishing the vision and prophecy of his missionary 
work. What a journey that was! Do you remember 
your first trip? Then you can in some measure 
imagine the thrill of this four-year-old as he beheld 
the endless succession of queer boats with their 
sweating, struggling, noisy crews working the long, 
creaking oars day and night, the villagers along the 
banks, the wide rice fields; the endless questions 
about the fishing nets, the birds, the idols, and the 
gongs at the temples. “The bridges all pleased him,” 
and no wonder. They have pleased older people 
for centuries. The father’s letters to the mother 
reveal the ecstatic delight of this normal, wondering, 
inquisitive child whose moods alternated between 
the exclamation and the interrogation point. He had 
a child’s wholesome thoughts of home and mother 
nevertheless. After saying his prayers he went to 
sleep with the expressed wish “to go home on the 
morrow.” 

The first journey of almost endless journeyings, 
the first separations, followed by so many, the first 
long walks in the country and the admiring com¬ 
ments on “the manly way in which he walked,’’ the 
beginning of a lifelong habit with which his friends 
were so familiar and which they found, sometimes, 
a little taxing. Thus with the lessons, the walks, the 
travel on the boat, and the endlessly interesting 
people all eager to get a peep at the foreign child, 
little Walter had his beginning of those journeys that 
were to take him many times round the world and 
across many strange seas and unknown lands. 

A year later there came one of those events that so 


The Garden in the East 


27 


often wring the hearts of missionaries. The mother 
was taking the boy and his little sister to America 
for the benefit of their health and a better surround¬ 
ing for their upbringing. In the mother’s journal of 
October 1, 1859, we read: 

Almost a week has passed away since, with tearful eyes and 
a truly saddened heart, I bade farewell to my dearly loved 
home and school among a benighted race of God’s creatures— 
and why? To take the dear children God has given me to a 
home where they may grow up enjoying purer air and all the ad¬ 
vantages of a Christian education. I trust that I am doing my 
duty; and if so, I feel that I shall have protection from on 
high; but if not, O, I pray that I may be led to see the way in 
which I should go. It was on Monday that we lifted our 
anchor and said good-by to many dear friends in Shanghai. 
On Tuesday a still harder task was done when we gave the 
last kiss and exchanged the last kind word with Mr. Lambuth. 
O, I fain would tell how great the pang that pierced my heart 
when I saw the one so dear to me fast fading from view as 
the little steamer “Meteor” swiftly glided over the billows, 
far, far away. But O, no mortal tongue can tell—no one can 
know but those who have loved and lived in love together. 

There were two Chinese boys, playmates of Walter. 
One of them, Dzau Tsz Zeh, became afterwards an 
able preacher and one of the first presiding elders. 
The other one, Lambuth, also became a preacher. 

There were storms and calms and rolling of the 
billows, but the teaching went on as usual, “The 
Bible lessons and hymns.” “The dear little fellow 
seems quite to enjoy being taught good things, and 
I feel anxious that that desire to learn be increased.” 
Thus with learning and play, with dancing in glee 
at sight of the hills of Borneo and weeping in fright 
at a tropical storm, he came to his fifth birthday on 
the wide sea. “At last, with rice all gone and has 


28 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


been for several days, the children living upon 
macaroni and bread,” and the mother at a loss what 
to do or say except to trust that God would bring 
deliverance, they reached their destination. They 
had been 109 days on their perilous journey. 

Let us not think that this mother has it in her re¬ 
motest thought to remain in America with her chil¬ 
dren, though still almost babies. The Nashville 
Christian Advocate records the coming of these pil¬ 
grims to Nashville as the guests of Dr. D. C. 
Kelley, whose daughter Daisy afterwards became 
the wife of Walter. This article in the Advocate 
speaks of Walter as “a handsome and intel¬ 
ligent child who speaks more in Chinese than in 
English—being a native of that side of the world,” 
and asks, “What will our readers think—what will 
that portion of them who are mothers think when 
we add that Mrs. Lambuth expects to re-sail the 
15th of April next! Leaving home and friends once 
more, and her children now, she returns to her de¬ 
voted husband and to continue the mission work.” 
“The love of Christ constraineth.” 

Mrs. Lambuth stayed in America a shorter time 
than it took to make the journey from China! She 
had been absent from home and loved ones over five 
years. She left her children in good hands. Their 
Grandfather McClellan writes to their father under 
date of February 27, 1860: 

I must say to you that my anticipations are more than 
realized in the hopefulness of these two dear little children 
of yours. I hope it may be the pleasure of the Lord to spare 
them and early teach them the necessity of giving\their hearts to 
God, and if spared to riper years that they may be made 


The Garden in the East 


29 


honored instruments in turning many poor heathen from the 
worship of dumb idols to the service of the living God. I do 
hope that no pains will be spared on our part in imparting to 
them good moral instruction. 

It was to be Walter’s lot to remain in the home of 
his Grandfather McClellan here in New York for 
almost two years, and we can easily imagine that the 
little fellow did not lack good moral instruction nor 
affectionate treatment, though he must often have 
been homesick for his mother and father. The 
grandfather writes: “Walter and Nettie are always 
ready to repeat their verses in the morning at family 
devotion with other members of the family and ap¬ 
pear quite interested in repeating their little questions. 
Walter is an excellent child and his mind is becoming 
capable of cultivation.” The type and strenuousness 
of the cultivation administered during these two 
years in this Scotch Presbyterian home may be 
imagined. But we are not left to our imagination, 
for some of the records are before us. His daughter 
writes: 

I have heard father tell, with a great deal of amusement, 
about doing something as a small boy that he thought so 
wicked he feared the sky would fall on him. He spent a 
number of months when quite small with his mother’s people 
in Cambridge, N. Y. They were extremely strict United 
Presbyterians. On the Sabbath he went to Sunday school 
and church, was allowed to sing psalms, and in the afternoon 
would take a walk in the graveyard. Whistling or singing 
Methodist hymns on that day was absolutely forbidden. 
Father and a small cousin, feeling specially tempted one 
Sabbath afternoon, slipped off to the graveyard, climbed a 
tree, and whistled several Methodist hymns. Sunday was 
rather a long day, for two sermons were heard, an hour each in 
length, and the Sabbath school which he attended between 


30 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


the sermons lasted another hour. Walter kept awake and 
pretty lively during the first sermon, counting the roses in the 
big bonnets of six girls who were the minister’s daughters and 
who sat on the bench opposite. During the second sermon he 
cuddled up by the side of his grandmother and seemed to 
think more of her than of the discourse, because when he 
began to nod she would hand him a bit of dried cinnamon or 
a peppermint drop, which refreshments were kept safely 
stored away in the glove of her left hand or in the little 
reticule which she always carried. Sunday afternoon, accord¬ 
ing to the old Puritan notions that prevailed in those days, 
he was not allowed to go outside of the yard for a walk unless 
it was to the graveyard with an aunt or uncle or with some of 
the young people who walked about quietly and respectfully, 
reading the inscriptions on the tombstones. Being full of 
animal spirits, he was fond of whistling; but having been 
guilty of that performance once or twice on Sunday, he was 
sent to the foot of the hill at the end of the back yard to sit 
on the bank of the little stream until he could get quiet and 
well behaved. Being out of hearing, he soon fell upon the 
plan of surveying the surrounding country from the top of a 
willow tree up which he climbed and there perched on high he 
fell to whistling to his heart’s content. 

This performance was soon discovered and, taken together 
with laughing out at prayers the next morning because his 
young uncle of the same age, and his playmate, made a face 
at him, he was doomed to punishment by having a piece of 
the willow tree applied to him by the grandmother. The 
young uncle got the worst of it, as he came in for the first 
whipping and was not spry enough to dodge the switch. 
Not so with Walter, who slipped behind the grandmother, 
caught her by the dress, dodged to the right and then to the 
left, so that whichever way she turned he was always in the 
rear. The entire proceeding was so ridiculous that she 
finally broke out in a laugh, sat down to rest, and let him off. 

The grandfather was no less a strict disciplinarian. He did 
not wield the rod so vigorously, but kept the boys at work and 
instilled into them principles of industry and of honest effort 
which was one of the best factors in their education. Even in 
the blacking of his shoes Walter learned a lesson (h^t he never 


The Garden in the East 


31 


forgot. His grandfather insisted that he should black and 
shine his heels as well as, if not better than, his toes. “You 
look down at your own toes, but other people see your heels,” 
and he thought it dishonest to do good work at one place and 
slight it at another. Much scripture was memorized on 
Saturday evenings while the two boys stood by a flour barrel 
in the kitchen over the top of which, on a broad board, the 
grandmother was kneading her dough, getting ready for 
Sunday. As little cooking as possible was done on the Sabbath, 
and in the evening, after the cows were milked and the chores 
were done, the story of some heroic Bible character was told, 
a section in the Shorter Catechism was recited, and the supper 
made from a pan of bread and milk. Plain living, high think¬ 
ing, and great purposes for life were the order of the day and 
the preparation for the night. 

During this time the War between the States 
broke out, and the country was set aflame with 
excitement. The records are silent as to the im¬ 
pression made on the mind of this eager, sensitive 
child by this terrible event. But it could not fail 
to go deep into his soul. The writer recalls the cold, 
mysterious, terrifying effect of it on the imagination 
of a child of seven. New York was far from the 
scene, but it must have been talked over the teacups 
and found its place in the family devotions. One 
cannot imagine this Scotch family being neutral in 
a matter so grave as negro slavery and the pres¬ 
ervation of the union; and was not a kinsman of his 
grandfather, Gen. George B. McClellan, Major Gen¬ 
eral of the Federal Army? Little Walter must have 
heard things that made him think and ask questions 
in his own mind which he dared not ask aloud. Did 
not his pious Grandfather Lambuth own slaves and 
were not Mississippi and Tennessee in the South? 
It is more than possible that seeds were planted in 


32 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


the fertile soil of his mind and heart that in after 
years bore fruit in his loyal friendship for the negro, 
both in America and Africa—not less by what he 
learned from the South than by what he heard and 
felt in the North. 

In 1863 we find him in Mississippi with his father 
and mother, who had returned to America in 1861. 
At this time there was added to the terrors of war 
the first great personal sorrow of Walter’s young life. 
This was the death of his little sister Nettie, who 
died of scarlet fever. This new and mysterious sor¬ 
row went deep into his young life. He was thus at 
little more than eight years of age feeling the teeth 
of life’s tragic experiences—terrors at sea, separation, 
homesickness, war, the terrors of disease, and be¬ 
reavement. Through what hot convulsions are the 
seams of precious metal laid in the rocks, and through 
what turbulent and torturing experiences are the 
shining and priceless treasurers stored in the soul! 

At this time the Vicksburg Campaign, which 
Sherman pronounced one of the greatest campaigns 
in history was being waged. It was a campaign to 
win Vicksburg and the great artery of the South, the 
Mississippi River, from the Confederacy. Union 
troops held the Mississippi Central Railroad, along 
the course of the river. Failing in assault, Grant 
and Sherman laid seige to Vicksburg, and the whole 
section was in the turmoil of war. 

Under these conditions the start was made for the 
long journey back to China, Walter and the new 
baby with them and the new grave behind them. 

They left the old home in a carriage and an ox 
wagon: the two children, the father and mother, 



REV. J. W. LAMBUTH, D.D 


















































































































































































































































The Garden in the East 


33 


and their two Chinese boys Dzau and John Lambuth. 
The roads were bad and these boys and Dr. Lambuth 
were compelled to walk many miles of the journey. 
They often had to sleep in the carriage and wagon, 
and were in constant dread “ because of the evil 
soldiers.” “Sometimes the things had to be taken 
out and carried up the hills,” because the mud was so 
deep that the horses and oxen could not pull the 
vehicles. In this way Walter traveled, sometimes 
stopping in a deserted house for weeks, the weather 
being too bad to go on. In the early spring (1864) 
the carriage and horses were sold and only the ox 
wagon was used, because the soldiers had no use for an 
ox wagon and would not take it. “At last, after 
many weary months, our mother’s childhood home 
in New York was reached,” writes Mrs. W. H. 
Park, “and there we remained awhile to rest 
and find a ship on which to sail from New 
York. Walter doubtless grew accustomed to the 
life which we now think of as impossible, so long and 
weary does it seem.” From Mississippi to New York 
through the mud and slush of winter, in an ox wagon, 
in war time! Stiff training, invaluable as preparation 
for the long road on which his feet were already set! 

Five months on the seas and they were back in 
China. Walter was soon engaged in study. He 
often accompanied his father to the regions round 
about Shanghai and even so far as the Great Lake. 
These were happy days for him. He was going 
on into that period of storm and stress when life is 
topsy-turvy, and the boy is trying to find himself and 
to get his bearings, when he is as little understood 
by others as he understands them. This formative 
3 


34 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


and plastic period of molten and turbulent vitality 
is spent in the school of an unusual mother with a 
wise, affectionate father, traveling on the canals, 
treading the trails through the rice fields from village 
to village, among the people he always loved and 
who always welcomed the odd, curious child with his 
deferential manner and his smiling face. 


CHAPTER III 

A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 


“Could but thy soul, O man, become a silent night, 

God would be born in thee and set all things right." 

—Johannes Scheffler. 

This happy life in China was not to continue. 
Walter grew rapidly. He was tall for his years, but 
slender and lacking in robust vitality. He began to 
have trouble with his eyes, an affliction that clung 
to him through life. Throat trouble also developed, 
so that at times he almost lost his voice. These 
warnings called for a change of climate, and treatment 
that was lacking in Shanghai. Accordingly we find 
him on the morning of May 19, 1869, at 5 o’clock, 
setting out aboard the steamer “Costa Rica” for 
America. This is the first time he has traveled on 
a steamship, and we may anticipate a shorter and 
more comfortable voyage. But, alas, he is seasick 
the first two days out. This experience was re¬ 
peated through all his travels. It was inevitable 
with him and incurable. Yet he was on deck to 
look with delight on the beautiful shores of Japan on 
the morning of the 21st. Here he gives a revealing 
and pleasing glimpse of his heart in a letter written 
on shipboard to his father and mother: “This morn¬ 
ing I got up feeling much better, so I could go down 
to breakfast, then I went on deck.” Then he speaks 
of the beautiful scenery as they were nearing Japan, 
and says: “I am so thankful for the kind letters 

(35) 


36 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


which I found in my bag and which contained so 
much good counsel and advice. You can hardly 
think how much I value them. I have read them over 
and over several times and intend to follow their in¬ 
structions as closely as I can. Pray for me often that 
I may not stray from the right path in which I should 
walk.” 

He transferred from the “Costa Rica” to the 
“Great Republic” at Yokohama. Landing at San 
Francisco, he left there on July 5 and reached Cam¬ 
bridge, N. Y., on the 13th, going by rail via Salt 
Lake, Omaha, Chicago, Detroit, into Canada, across 
the bridge at Niagara, by Albany and Troy to Cam¬ 
bridge, changing cars seven times on the journey of 
seven days. The same journey is now made in four 
days by rail and in a few hours by airplane. 

Arriving in Cambridge, N. Y., he found his grand¬ 
parents well and glad to see him. He remained there 
during the summer and his health improved very 
much. On August 8 he writes: 

Words cannot express the joy in my heart when I got the 
first letter from you. I fairly jumped up and down and then 
laughed till I could do so no longer and nearly cried with joy. 
Cheer up and do not be so sad on my account, as I could not 
be doing better. In a few days more you will have a letter 
from me written in San Francisco, which will tell you of my 
trip. All the gentlemen were very kind to me, and I made a 
number of griends. Coming over almost every one played 
cards, and as they did not play for money they seemed to 
think it was no harm; but I think there was harm in setting 
such an example. Many young men have been ruined for 
life just beginning that way and going on to worse. I have 
been taught, I am happy to say, to do nothing that God and 
my parents would not like me to do; and though I am sorry to 


A Voyage of Discovery 37 

say I often fail, still I renew my resolution again and pray to 
be kept in the right path. 

In a later letter he writes: 11 1 hope you will be 
in China when I come back or that you will come to 
America some day for a vacation and I can go back 
with you.” 

It is now that he begins to unfold his plans for the 
future. Fortunate the boy who can do this at fifteen! 
Serious thoughts had crowded upon him in the lonely 
hours on the ship. He writes asking for instruction 
as to how to be a Christian and is troubled by a lack 
of assurance, although he believes in Christ. It 
was during this voyage that he knelt in his state¬ 
room and made the great surrender. The experience 
of that act set an indelible seal upon his life. A new 
era dated from that spiritual birth hour. He came 
back to it again and again in the turmoil and strain to 
get his bearings. The faith of his father and mother 
became his faith and their God his God. The things 
of the spirit were translated from the realm of creed 
to the domain of experience. It was here that he 
discovered God, the one great and overwhelmingly 
essential discovery in every life. This new ex¬ 
perience came as a happy compensation for the loss 
and loneliness that were upon him like a cloud. We 
are not surprised, therefore, to find him writing from 
Lebanon, Tenn., to his mother at the close of his 
fifteenth year: “I wish to tell you, before I close this 
letter, that yesterday morning I joined the M. E. 
Church, South, and took upon myself the vows of a 
Christian, to lead, with the aid of God, a pure and 
holy life. Pray for me that I may be able to keep 
them as I should.” 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


38 


He had improved in health while in Cambridge. His 
voice became stronger. He wrote encouragingly to 
his mother of his health and rejoiced that his voice 
was growing gradually stronger. After going to 
Lebanon he continued to improve, and at the end of 
his first term in school he boasts of being the strong¬ 
est boy in the neighborhood, able “to carry 120 
pounds of wheat.” He worked in the fields in 
vacation and found it good for his health. There 
were other reasons why he was willing to work. 
When he was on the voyage over, he wrote his parents 
suggesting that if his voice did not improve he had 
best get work to make expenses. From Cambridge 
he wrote: “I helped to shingle the house where it 
leaked, the other day, while Mr. McClellan shoved 
a stick up through the roof in the cracks to let me 
know where they were. Mr. McClellan and I picked 
nine quarts of blackberries this morning. Yesterday 
I worked in the field, taking in oats. . . . Where shall 
I go during my vacation? Had I not better work on 
a farm or get a place in a store, anything so as not to 
be idle? ... If my voice were well enough, I would 
like to give a lecture to the farmers around here. . . . 
Is the Board still sending you support?” 

When he arrived in Lebanon, which was to be his 
home, the baggageman wanted twenty-five cents to 
carry his small trunk. He borrowed a wheelbarrow 
and wheeled it through the streets himself. How 
fortunate this frail boy, so far away from home, to 
find a home with Mrs. Kelley, “Mother Kelley,” 
whose son D. C. Kelley had gone to China with 
Walter’s own mother and father. It was out of the 
missionary vision and far-seeing wisdom of Mother 


39 


A Voyage of Discovery 

Kelley that the first woman’s missionary society 
was formed at McKendree Church, and this was largely 
inspired by the appeals of Walter’s mother for the 
daughters of China. Her motherly interest in this 
young Timothy was therefore more than personal— 
it was prophetic. He was the son of her friend and 
coworker in the kingdom and representative of the 
Christless millions of China. She could not even 
guess then that this youth was destined to become 
the father of her great-grandchildren and link her 
name and blood in a new, tender way with that 
vast empire of darkness. What with study and work 
and worship and the companionship of this rare 
home, Walter was as happy and contented as a boy 
could be ten thousand miles from his parents. 

His daughter says: 

Father often told of his first job, which was clearing three 
acres of stumps at Leeville, the summer home of my Grand¬ 
father Kelley. Grandfather offered father and two other boys 
five dollars to clear five acres. The other boys grew tired of 
their job, but father worked away all summer, early and late, 
and at the end finished three acres. I believe father was as 
proud of that as anything he ever did as a boy. He said in 
later life when he would run against something hard to do, he 
would laugh and say, “It is hard, but not so hard as clearing 
stumps." 

No wonder he was able to get through such an 
enormous amount of work in later years. He began 
early. In the harvest field, or with the ax, he over¬ 
came the disability that threatened him and became 
“strong as an ox.” He boasted that he was a 
champion in the neighborhood for strength. We 
have a suspicion that it was not the strength of an 
ox after all, but that of an absolute will and un- 


40 Walter Russell Lambuth 

conquerable spirit that told in his case then and 
always. 

In the following January a great meeting was in 
progress in Lebanon and he was one of the constant 
attendants. He was most happy to see sinners going 
forward and declares that he was never so happy in 
his life. He took an active part, and when the 
preacher asked for those who would talk to the 
penitents, he felt it his duty to go, he tells us, even 
if he could say but a few words, and he went praying 
that his few words might be helpful. “God,” he 
wrote at the time, “has done so much for me, I 
must try to do something for him, although it be 
but little.” His account of his first love-feast was 
so interesting and so characteristic that we shall give 
it in his own words: 

At 3 p.m. I went to the love-feast. I felt a little embarrassed 
at first, but it soon wore off as I kept on speaking. I related 
how I was led to seek God, that you had often talked to me 
about it; but when I was all alone on the wide ocean, then 
indeed I felt that need, for I was led to think very seriously 
about it, and what I must do to be saved, casting myself 
upon Jesus and giving my whole heart to him. I said also 
that, although I was far from my home here on earth and 
that I might never more see my earthly home, yet I had hope 
of a blessed home awaiting me in heaven. 

He was already thinking of his missionary task. 
He was debating a little even then whether his field 
should be China or Japan and, if it should be Japan, 
where he should locate. All these serious matters, 
so fundamental to his future life, were either started 
or accentuated during this period. It was indeed to 
him a voyage of discovery—of self-discovery. Per- 


41 


A Voyage of Discovery 

haps in no like period of his life did he make such 
progress in getting his bearings and setting his helm 
hard by the eternal chart as during these eventful 
weeks. 

The hour came for another change in this shifting 
young life. He must go from the school in Lebanon 
to Emory and Henry College, near Abingdon, Va., 
where so many of the strong men of the Church have 
been trained. Dr. James Atkins, afterwards Presi¬ 
dent and later Sunday School Editor and Bishop, 
was a student there at the same time. This was 
in the year 1871. He entered on his college work at 
seventeen, with a stout heart. “ I am doing my best 
to learn all I can and at the same time trying to 
economize all time and labor and money possible, 
for I know that if a person will only go at it with the 
right sort of energy while he is at it, he will save more 
time and work than if he went at it with only half 
energy.” And yet it appears that his will is still 
stronger than his body, for he finds it necessary to 
reassure himself that he will be able to carry on 
his studies through the winter. He got through the 
first year, but not without trouble with his eyes. 
This was so pronounced that he was not able to 
return to Emory the following term, but remained in 
Tennessee, doing some work and carrying on such 
studies as he was able. During this period he was a 
student for a short time at the University of Nash¬ 
ville. He did not return to Emory and Henry until 
1874, where he continued till he graduated with 
honor in 1875, at the age of twenty-one. 

His college life was not lacking in those incidents 
that give color and charm and serve to reveal one’s per- 


42 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


sonality. His roomate, W. R. Peebles—known famil¬ 
iarly as “Buck,” afterwards a prominent member of 
the Tennessee Conference—told the story of how he 
found Walter at one time in his room where he had 
gathered all the clocks in the neighborhood, eleven 
in number, and was laboriously trying to make 
them tick together. There is no record of his success, 
but it may have taught him a lesson in patient 
perseverance. He was in some such mood as the 
eighteen-year-old Galileo when he sat watching the 
swinging of the chandelier in the Cathedral at Pisa, 
out of which mood a new world of science emerged. 

He was not negligent of the serious business of 
life. He organized in Emory and Henry the College 
Y. M. C. A. during his first year, was chosen its 
president, and was sent to Boston as a delegate that 
year. This Association in time organized five Sunday 
schools in the country, one of which was for colored 
children. Of this one he gives a most interesting 
and graphic account in one of his own letters. In 
going from Emory to the convention at Lowell, 
Mass., he and another delegate, Mr. J. B. Brown, 
had determined to walk on account of scant funds; 
but by selling furniture and books, with some aid 
from home, they managed to make the journey by 
rail. He later organized another Y. M. C. A. in 
Peking, China, sharing the honor with Harlan P. 
Beach, now of Yale University, of organizing the 
first two associations in the Chinese Empire. 

During his stay at Emory he had fully decided on 
the profession of medicine as his life work and was 
bending all his energies that way. He had a special 
fondness for the sciences. In a letter to Dr. D. C. 


A Voyage of Discovery 43 

Kelley, dated May 19, 1874, he makes it clear that 
he knows his mind for the future. “I have never 
wavered from the idea of being a missionary. ,, He 
writes in answer to some suggestions made as to his 
future in a letter from Dr. Kelley: 

But, on the other hand, the idea has been daily strengthened, 
and now I feel my duty leads me to China just as much as it 
leads me to preach. I have thought all along that a medical 
course would be good, and in fact almost necessary to my 
success in China, but I had almost come to the conclusion 
that I would have to do without it. I am in the spring session 
of the Junior class, and having passed my examinations thus 
far I think I would regret leaving here without a diploma, so 
my decision is to remain and graduate, medical course or not. 
I would like to study medicine, and have intended doing so, 
but my desire, as I have already said (and I don't think you 
can blame me for it), is to graduate, and particularly in those 
studies related to medicine. 

It is interesting to get this side light on the course 
he was pursuing at Emory and Henry. “This ses¬ 
sion,” he writes, “I am to study Latin, Greek, 
Grammar, Arnold’s Prose Composition, Mathematics, 
and besides these I have German and Moral Science, 
making in all nine lessons to get, which will make me 
work like a hero.” That was a fairly stiff program, 
we must admit. In this same letter he writes of an 
episode that shows up a side of his character with 
which those who knew him intimately in his later 
years were familiar. 

His grandfather had sent him for his room a 
carpet which he refused to use during the winter 
because his room was on the ground floor and the 
boys were always tramping in mud on rainy days so 
that a carpet would be ruined in no time. “Next 


44 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


fall,” he says, “we are going to move up to the second 
floor, then we can use it. In the meantime I will 
keep in wrapped up in oilcloth and that in oil paper 
and that in brown, so that the moths cannot get at 
it.” Rare and careful youth! And in a day when 
such thoughtfulness was impossible outside of story¬ 
books. Then: 

On opening the package I found a little box full of cake 
which grandma had sent me. It was very good, but not more 
than enough for a hungry man. Most all the boys get Christmas 
boxes, and I have been invited to several, so I thought I 
would return the compliment. So off I posted to the college 
and the two dormitories, and invited about twenty-five boys 
to come around to my room at four o'clock, right after prayers. 
I told them that I had a box that came all the way from New 
York, and that it was rather late in the season, but better 
late than never. Then, after they all promised to come, I sent 
back to my room, cut the cake up into little pieces not thicker 
than a half dollar and about an inch long. The box was not 
larger than a common pasteboard soap box, and hence I had 
very little trouble in lifting it about. Well, after prayers, 
here came the boys, by threes and fours until I thought the 
room could not possibly hold any more, but still they came. 
When I thought all had come that were going to, and having 
placed two buckets of water on the side table to wash the 
cake down with, I said, “ Peebles, it is high time to bring out 
the box, but wait a moment till I spread two towels on the 
table.” Then both of us went into the closet and grunted and 
grunted as if we were trying to lift a large box or some heavy 
weight. Then we appeared, one at each end of a box that a 
baby could carry, and putting it on the table, I turned and 
addressed the, by this time, astounded company. “Gentle¬ 
men and friends," said I with a sober face, “it is very seldom 
that I ever get a box, and when I do I want my friends to 
help me dispose of it.” Then you should have heard the roar, 
for by this time they had discovered the joke that was played 
off on them. Peal after peal of laughter was heard until I 
thought they would never hush again. At last, when they 


A Voyage of Discovery 


45 


had about laughed out, I took off the top and said: “Gentle¬ 
men, I hate to see you so bashful; walk right up now, one and 
all, and help yourselves.” Then after it was all gone and each 
one had a piece about as large as my little finger, I went 
around with both buckets of water, asking them to take a 
drink, for I knew they were dry after eating so much cake. 

The only rare thing about this performance was 
that it was a practical joke, a thing almost foreign 
to his nature. Indeed, he shows his misgivings when 
he asks his parents if they do not think it a pretty 
good joke and a harmless one. With a playfulness 
that came instantly to his relief as a buffer to the 
serious business of his maturer years and that so 
often took the strain off the tired spirit, there were 
three forms of wit that were not to his liking: 
coarse wit, wit with a sting in it, and practical jokes 
that embarrassed or hurt others. A coarse or shady 
word or story, or even hint of such a thing, was utterly 
foreign to his lips as it was foreign to his thoughts, and 
his courtesy and kindness were such as guaranteed 
his companions absolutely against that wit which 
purchases a laugh at the thoughtless cost of another’s 
discomfort. 

His pioneer spirit, so marked in after years, mani¬ 
fested itself in a mania for exploration. He was 
given to discovering and exploring caves in the 
surrounding hills. Once when venturing to crawl 
through a narrow opening from one chamber to 
another he became wedged in a crevice, and was 
with some pains extricated. In another cave 
episode he was attempting to cross one of those 
proverbial bottomless abysses on a rail, when it 
broke and he narrowly escaped an involuntary 
search for the undiscovered bottom of it. 


46 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


When the time came for him to graduate from 
Emory and Henry he had the joy of a visit from his 
mother. Apprised of her coming, he could not wait, 
but met her at Bristol, two stations away. He had 
not seen her in six years. She looked upon him now 
with admiring eyes and a full heart, no longer a boy, 
but a man “tall and sprightly, good, and full of 
energy, but not so strong as we could wish.” She 
is persuaded that he was overworked and needed 
rest. Trust a mother to see the signs of need or 
danger. She had the joy of seeing him graduate 
with honor, having received two diplomas, “and 
some of the medals, how many we did not learn— 
that was enough for me.” Modest mother! Taken 
literally, did any mother ever have enough of that 
sort of thing? And where were those medals, and 
where was Walter’s tongue? There should have 
been no reticence about this. They should have had 
a little scene over those medals, a sort of reversion 
to the nursery days and their more unrestrained 
jubilees. Was it the long separation and its ac¬ 
cumulation of unshared experiences that made them 
miss this fine opportunity? We just now remember 
that this mother was Scotch, given to self-control 
and with a mind for the deeper realities, and this 
tall, sprightly youth was at the age when it would not 
be good to parade his medals, even before his mother. 
One cannot overcome a keen suspicion that she found 
out later about those medals, and that he somehow 
knew that she had found out. 

His settled purpose that nothing could shake was 
at last accomplished through much difficulty. His 
eyes, which were always weak, gave him much 


A Voyage of Discovery 


47 


trouble, and a body much too weak for the restless 
and untiring energy of the spirit that through his 
life drove it day and night, now and then refused to 
go. Nevertheless he finished his academic work 
at Emory and Henry and left with his honors and 
medals and the love and admiration of faculty and 
fellow students. 

From 1875 to 1877 he studied theology in Vander¬ 
bilt University. He had been licensed to preach 
during his first year in Emory and Henry College, 
followed this by joining the Tennessee Conference in 
1876, and was ordained deacon by Bishop J. C. 
Keener. In 1877 he was ordained elder. 

His decision to study medicine had in no sense 
lessened his determination to become a preacher of 
the gospel. While studying theology, he also studied 
medicine in Vanderbilt, and graduated at the head 
of his class of sixty. During the time he was a 
student in Vanderbilt he was engaged in work under 
Conference appointment. His first appointment was 
Woodbine, a few miles from Nashville. He would 
go out on week ends on horseback and hold prayer 
meetings, Sunday schools, and preach, then back to 
his books. 

In 1876 an incident occurred which was character¬ 
istic of him during his entire life. He was offered an 
opportunity to go to the Centennial Exposition at 
Philadelphia. He writes to his mother: “I would be 
very glad to go, am most anxious to do so; but, dear 
mother, I can’t spare the time to make a visit of 
ten days, and less than that I would not be satisfied 
with. I am at an age now where solid benefit must 
be sought, and not mere pleasure for pleasure’s sake. 


48 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


I would want to go and take in that I might be able 
subsequently to give out.” 

During the two years that he was in Nashville he 
boarded much of the time at Dr. D. C. Kelley’s. He 
had found a home with the Kelleys, where as a 
fifteen-year-old boy he entered school at Lebanon 
and had been mothered by Grandmother Kelley, 
who had found his cheerful and filial fellowship a 
source of unusual comfort in the lonely days of her 
widowhood. Dr. Kelley had been a true friend and 
counselor in all these years. In Dr. Kelley’s home he 
had found Daisy, a smiling, vivacious, black-eyed 
girl, four years his junior. They had almost grown 
up together, and in the growing they grew to be more 
than playmates and more than friends. Their in¬ 
timacy ripened into that great mystery which is the 
most familiar, but the least understood, fact in all 
history, and which is the most beautiful and tender, 
and yet the most inexorable of despots, making men 
and women leave father and mother, country and 
home under its enchanting mastery. On August 2, 
1877, they were married at the altars of old Mc- 
Kendree Church, where he had for a time assisted 
Dr. Kelley as junior pastor. There was a romance of 
wedded love that outlasted all the separations in 
time and space, all the vicissitudes and sacrifices of 
missionary life to the last hour. A braver, truer, 
more consecrated and self-denying wife he could not 
have found. The world will never know how large 
a part she had in all the great work of his life. And 
if it knew, it would not reckon it at its true value. 

Nearly half a century has elapsed. They are 
together on the shores of the tideless sea; and though 



NORA LAMBUTH (MRS. W. H. PARK) 
WALTER R. LAMBUTH 


WILLIAM LAMBUTH 


MRS. J. W. LAMBUTH 
















A Voyage of Discovery 


49 


the mother would forbid it if she were here, I cannot 
withhold this beautiful and worthy tribute of their 
daughter: 

It never occurred to mother that she was in any way 
responsible for the success of father’s work; and yet, knowing 
them as I do, I believe full half of what he did was due to her 
influence. She never wanted any mention or praise in any 
way. Even to the last she was so interested in his work that 
she did not consider it a sacrifice that he went when she was 
so ill. 

Mother was never very strong, but she objected greatly 
to being called an invalid, and, whether strong or not, always 
did her full share. She was fairly well the last fourteen years, 
with the exception of the four she was so ill before her death. 
She had a sunstroke in China when a young woman, and the 
doctors said that and her ill health while in China and Japan 
were the cause of her last trouble. 

You will forgive me I know if I say that she was the most 
wonderful person I have ever known. Her courage and beauty 
of spirit to the very last were almost more than human. 

In thinking of my mother the trait which stands out pre¬ 
eminently was her dauntless courage; next her exquisite ten¬ 
derness and the beautiful way in which she forgave. I have 
known her to forgive the greatest injustice, and with the 
dearest smile turn and offer her help in any way possible. 

I never knew anyone to come to her in trouble, no matter what 
it was, but that she gave them her tenderest sympathy and 
help. 

It never mattered how hard a thing might be, she never 
counted it a sacrifice. There was never anything, on the 
mission field even, that she would admit a hardship. Service 
to her was pure joy. When first married, and still just a girl, 
she often stayed alone when father went off on mission work. 
Sometimes she was the only foreigner in miles, so it is no 
wonder that she insisted to the very last that the work must 
come first. 

There was something so beautifully wholesome about her 
religion, and her balance and broadness of vision were of the 

4 


50 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


greatest strength to father. He often said to me that she had 
one of the sanest, broadest, and brightest minds he had ever 
known, and that words could not express all that her courage, 
love, and sympathy had meant to his life and work. 

She was intellectual, had a keen intuition, a deep sense of 
fun, and was a wonderful reader of human nature, and with it 
all she possessed a rare and exquisite charm. 


CHAPTER IV 

ATTACKING GOLIATH WITH A LANCET 


“ One who never turned his back, but marched breast-forward, 

Never doubted clouds would break, 

Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would tri¬ 
umph, 

Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, 

Sleep to wake." —Robert Browning. 

Exactly two months from the date of their mar¬ 
riage, this young couple sailed from San Francisco 
for China. This time it was not a sailboat, but a 
comfortable steamship. To him it was a home¬ 
going. China was also the land to which he had 
dedicated his life from his youth. His letters 
while yet a boy made it clear that he had but one 
thought for his life and that was to be a missionary, 
and when near the end of his earthly journey he 
speaks of China as his first love. 

Arriving in Shanghai in November, 1877, he began 
his medical work in December. No time was lost, 
but he plunged at once into his work. He opened 
work in the city of Nanziang, near Shanghai, and 
during his first year opened an opium refuge in 
Shanghai. It was a small beginning, almost without 
equipment, but it was at least a realization of a 
dream that had fed the fires of aspiration through 
his youth and now challenged the strength of his 
young manhood. 

It is interesting to note the results of that first 
vear. Beginning in December, he had made three 

( 51 ) 


52 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


short visits to the country as early as January. His 
first report shows in two months 91 cases treated. 
One of these was a woman who asked earnestly for 
“heart medicine.’' Her symptoms as she gave them 
justified her request. She said: “I get excited some¬ 
times, and my heart gets very mad, for my relations 
treat me very cruelly. I want to scratch their faces 
and say bad things. Can’t you give me some medi¬ 
cine for my heart?” Fortunately the doctor in this 
case had a remedy for that malady, as well as for the 
ills of the body. In this report he says: “For a week 
out of one month I am on a circuit of 104 miles, 
dispensing medicine and preaching at six towns and 
cities; the next month I am gone two weeks on a cir¬ 
cuit of over 200 miles, visiting some twelve towns and 
cities.” The size and importance of this field and 
work are in striking contrast to the size of the ap¬ 
propriation. It seems there was $200 for the first 
year and his optimism stretches this munificent sum 
triumphantly over the vast domain and clean across 
the year’s contingencies. “I have $200 on hand, 
which will suffice until our next appropriation comes, 
which will not be until next October.” He expects 
the work to grow and has screwed his courage up to 
the venture on larger things. He has boldly asked 
for $300 in the next appropriation, as “the Quarterly 
Conference considers the results arising from the 
medical work large enough to justify asking for that 
amount.” I wonder how long it took the Board at 
home to get its estimates up to the level of the daring 
of that Quarterly Conference and a fifty per cent 
advance for the young doctor in his first year on the 
field! 


Attacking Goliath with a Lancet 


53 


Amidst his laboratories, X-ray machines, steri¬ 
lizers, microscopes, libraries, trained nurses and their 
unsatisfied demands, it is likely some worker of 
to-day will read this and wonder if after all what has 
been added has not also subtracted something which 
made that little bit “suffice.” Maybe some weary 
Secretary will read it and sigh for the good old days 
when so little would go so far. 

The deeper things were not overlooked nor subor¬ 
dinated to the bodily healing. The medicine for the 
heart was always dispensed. This first year he 
began the training of “two exhorters for the medical 
work.” His plan was to make medicine always 
auxiliary to the preaching of the gospel. Sometimes 
the churches were crowded and a large part of the at¬ 
tendants were patients. He was able to declare that 
500 of the first 766 patients had been personally 
approached on the subject of their soul’s salvation. 
While the medicine was being prepared, the patients 
were being talked to by helpers. Thus were linked 
these two agencies of human betterment, healing 
the bodies and saving the souls, with healing always 
tributary to the greater goal. 

It was in May, 1880, that he opened an opium 
refuge in the city of Shanghai. The curse of the 
Opium War, forcing this destructive drug on the 
Chinese people in the interest of Western greed, 
was working its dreadful havoc. One of the most 
common and pitiful forms of affliction calling for 
treatment was the opium habit. The heart of the 
young doctor could not long resist this pathetic 
appeal. The opium refuge was his response. The 
regime was a rigid one, and was a severe test for 


54 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


those who entered the refuge. It included immediate 
giving up of the drug, three days’ confinement under 
lock and bars, a signed waiver of responsibility for 
any untoward results, morning and evening prayer. 
The treatment resulted in a cure, usually in five days. 

In two weeks they were entirely normal. The 
results of the work became well known throughout 
the whole southern end of the province, so that the 
Governor of the Province issued a proclamation 
against opium, and the District Magistrate of 
Shanghai, on account of this, recommended that all 
of his opium-smoking retainers patronize the hospital 
and quit the drug or they would be in danger of 
dismissal from the service. Another result was the 
organization of the anti-opium society within the 
hospital. This doubtless bore a fundamental relation 
to the later opium agitation in which Dr. W. H. 
Park, the brother-in-law of Dr. Lambuth, played so 
conspicuous a part, and which went a great way to 
bring on the prohibition of opium, use and sale, and 
even the cultivation of the poppy. In one of the 
meetings of the anti-opium society, when all the 
patients but one were present, a characteristic in¬ 
cident occurred: The patients were asked to state 
how they had fared since changing their mode of 
life. The experiences were practical and telling in 
their effects on the opium-smoking bystanders and 
rich and racy in humor. Among others who spoke, a 
silversmith, who had come in sallow and emaciated, 
arose, puffing out his fat cheeks and slapping his 
hands on the sides of a well-filled stomach, and with 
true Caesarean brevity cried out in Chinese, “Able 
to eat, able to work!” and sat down amidst the hearty 


Attacking Goliath with a Lancet 55 

laughter of the audience. One result of these meet¬ 
ings was the preparation by the Chinese of a pam¬ 
phlet against the use of opium, for free distribution. 
Such were the far-reaching by-products of this 
modest effort to rescue these poor wretches from the 
drug demon, and to start a movement which later set 
millions free from the curse and put the feet of the 
nation in a new path of freedom and power. 

It was characteristic of Dr. Lambuth to strike at 
that which strikes at mankind. It was little he could 
do—one inexperienced missionary with an equip¬ 
ment of three hundred dollars a year, challenging 
the greed of the greatest nation on earth, and setting 
his lancet and pill-box in array against a withering 
curse that threatened four hundred millions of 
people. But be it remembered that he fought with 
unseen weapons, and that the will of God and the 
conscience of mankind were on his side. 

In the summer of 1880 the health of Mrs. Daisy 
Lambuth became feeble, and in spite of all efforts at 
restoration it became evident that she should return 
to America. Accordingly she took leave of her hus¬ 
band and sailed with Dr. and Mrs. J. W. Lambuth for 
home. This was the first of those frequent and long 
separations endured so bravely and cheerfully by 
this devoted couple in their forty-three years of 
married life. In February, 1881, an unexpected 
event made necessary the return of W. R. Lambuth 
to America. The failure of the health of Mrs. K. H. 
McClain, together with the peculiar nature of her 
affliction, required the presence of some one besides 
her husband; and as no one outside the Mission could 
be found who would accompany them, Dr. Lambuth 


56 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


was sent on the sad mission. Thus closing his first 
fruitful period as a missionary in China, he arrived 
in San Francisco on March 18, lacking one day of a 
month in “making a quick and pleasant trip.” The 
report for the year closes significantly with these 
words: “Dr. and Mrs. J. W. Lambuth expect to be 
in China by the last of October, and after securing 
additional medical facilities Mrs. Daisy Lambuth 
and myself hope to be in the field again by next 
December.” Their hearts were bent on China, and 
their tarrying was not long away from the land of 
their love. 

Advantage was taken of this short period at home 
to attend Bellevue Hospital, New York, for better 
equipment for his work. The hospital was chosen in 
view of an outstanding need of Oriental lands. 
Blindness is a painfully common affliction in these 
lands and it was characteristic of Dr. Lambuth to 
desire the means of helping those who excited his 
commiseration. After some months spent in Bellevue 
he received a degree in 1881. 

He sailed from New York with Mrs. Lambuth and 
Dr. W. H. Park on May 20, 1881, and spent six 
weeks in Edinburgh in special medical study. From 
Edinburgh he went to London and spent seven weeks 
in still further study of Anatomy, Physiology, and 
the Eye. Thus he had used five months of his time 
while absent from the field in studying in the three 
great centers of New York, Edinburgh, and London. 
The unexpected return to America had furnished him 
a coveted opportunity, which was used to the fullest 
and in the most effective way. He returned to his 
work enriched by study, all the more valuable that 


Attacking Goliath with a Lancet 57 

it was had after three years of experience had taught 
him the outstanding needs to be met. 

In after years it was his habit to insist on the best 
training that could be had for medical missionaries. 
It may well be that his own experience of the value 
of this arm of the service and also of the necessity 
for skill and scientific accuracy led to this insistence. 
Note the fact that a medical practitioner in England 
or America may be in general practice and do no 
surgery; or he may limit himself to one of half a 
dozen or more specialties, and leave the rest of the 
vast field of practice to others. The medical mission¬ 
ary must often cover the entire field. In the case of 
Dr. Lambuth, he was alone amid a vast population, 
ignorant of the simplest laws of health, suffering from 
all sorts of diseases. He must be practitioner, 
surgeon, specialist; in fact, do everything in the line 
of healing, and do it often with the crudest equip¬ 
ment. He was often far away in the country, and 
the poor sufferers came pleading for relief, with dis¬ 
concerting confidence in the ability of the foreign 
doctor. There was much at stake. They could not 
be sent to a surgeon or recommended to a specialist, 
for there were none. There was more involved than 
even the healing of men. The cause of religion was at 
stake. He must act, and act promptly. To fail 
would be almost as fatal as to refuse to act. He must 
take the risk. He had to put to the test almost 
daily all the medical wisdom of all the schools since 
Aesculapius. What a joy to know what to do and 
how to do it! 

The story is related by one of our missionaries in 
China of how he performed his first operation. He 


58 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


had just reached the field, fresh from Medical College. 
He had no instruments. Only a small amount had 
been allowed for equipment, and that had not been 
invested. A man came whose arm had been broken. 
It had gone without attention till amputation was his 
only hope. He had heard of the foreign doctor. To 
falter or fail would be to forfeit confidence and lose 
face at the outset. He took the man into his own 
house, sent to the neighboring city for an anaesthetic 
and some simple appliances, sharpened a carving 
knife, borrowed a carpenter’s saw, requisitioned his 
wife’s darning needle and ground it down a bit, turned 
his wife into a temporary nurse, and prayed as he 
never prayed before. That operation was a success 
and his reputation was established. No wonder 
physicians at home on furlough from foreign fields are 
keen to study in the most up-to-date institutions. 

Later in life Dr. Lambuth embodied his experience 
and observations in a volume on Medical Missions, 
which has become a classic on the subject and has 
been widely used as a textbook. It is entitled “ Medi¬ 
cal Missions.” It was written as a textbook for the 
Student Volunteer Movement and published in 1920. 

In the 250 pages of this volume the agonies and 
appeals of suffering millions of men, women, and 
children across the world are given a voice. He sets 
before our eyes the loathsome and deadly diseases 
that take their toll of life and exact their tribute of 
agony and woe unhindered in wide areas of the earth. 
The groans of the mature and the wails of little 
children plead for obedience to the command to 
“heal the sick.” 

As was his habit when he wished to fasten a truth 


Attacking Goliath with a Lancet 


59 


or send home an appeal he used a concrete human 
example and closes the chapter on “The Challenge” 
with these words, through which we may trace his 
own motive: 

The writer never fully realized the true significance of the 
missionary motive until he reached the mission field. There 
came one day into our Soochow Hospital a Chinese woman. 
“Can you do anything for me?” she asked. “I hope so," 
was the reply; “what is the matter?" Then she told her 
story. “ I am the wife of a small farmer. We are very poor. 
My life of seventy years has been a very hard one, for we 
have eaten much bitterness. Day after day I have crawled 
with my husband through the mud, on hands and knees, in 
cultivating the rice stalks. We had neither plow nor buffalo. 
My body is tortured to death with rheumatism and burning 
up with fever." 

She was put to bed, given medicine, and made as comfor¬ 
table as possible for the night. The next morning, after 
attending the surgical cases, I visited the woman's ward, 
paused by her bedside, took her hand in mine and asked, 
“Have you eaten your soft-boiled rice? How do you feel this 
morning?" “O, I feel better," she replied. “Then why do 
you cry?" The tears were trickling down her weather-beaten 
cheeks. “O, doctor, you have been so good to me!" And she 
added: “I am an old woman. My life has been bitter—bitter to 
death. I have given birth to children. They grew up, 
married, and have gone; but not one has ever held my hand 
or said kind words like a son. O, doctor, when I am well do 
not send me away. This is heaven. Let me mop the floors 
and cook the rice. My old husband might sweep the yard 
and mind the gate. But let me stay—this is the only heaven 
for an old woman like me." 

As I stroked her rough hand, the tears came involuntarily 
to my own eyes until her face was lost in the blur. There 
seemed to be another face into which I gazed for the moment 
—the face of the Great Physician, who said, “Inasmuch as ye 
have done this unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done 
it unto me." Then I discovered the real motive of the mis- 


60 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


sionary. It is not the need of the individual, deep and ap¬ 
pealing as that is; not the Chinese, great as the appeal of 
countless multitudes may be; not the command, imperative 
as its terms are; but the Master—the Master himself and his 
love. Herein lies the constraint. In neglecting these weaker 
ones, we neglect him. In ministering to their need, we minister 
to him. The true missionary motive is wrapped up in his life 
and centered in his love.* 


*“ Medical Missions," pages 188, 189. 



CHAPTER V 

ONE SOWETH AND ANOTHER REAPETH 


“But life shall on and upward go; 

Th* eternal step of progress beats 
To that great anthem calm and slow, 

Which God repeats.” 

— Whittier. 


Returning to China from America in the fall of 
1882, he threw himself afresh into the work. During 
his absence plans which had already been under con¬ 
sideration as early as 1880 for opening medical work 
in Soochow had been matured. On November 2, 
1882, he arrived in China, and on the 20th of the 
same month he and Dr. W. H. Park began work there 
in a dispensary fitted up for the purpose. At the 
end of about a year the hospital was opened up for 
the public. Almost forty years to a day the writer 
had the joy of taking part in the dedication of a fine 
hospital building—one of the best in all China— 
modern, commodious, and equipped with all modern 
furnishings. This hospital had filled a large place 
in his thought. It was kept in mind while studying 
in America, Scotland, England, and France, he tells 
us. Dr. Park, who had married a sister of Dr. 
Lambuth, and whose continued service throughout 
the four decades had accomplished a marvelous 
work, winning renown and great veneration and love 
throughout Eastern China, was still there to rejoice 
in the noble outcome, but Dr. Lambuth had finished 
his journey more than a year before. Dr. A. P. 


62 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


Parker, who made the opening address in 1883, was 
present and took part in 1922. 

There was a vast difference between the old and the 
new hospitals. There was also a vast difference in 
the China of 1883 and the China of 1922. Western 
learning, the Boxer movement, the war with Japan, 
the revolution had all taken place, and Christianity 
had won its way into the thinking of China. It was 
a new day and a new China, and just at the end of the 
most terrible war of all history, in which China had 
taken the side of democracy and the most sacred 
rights of men and nations. The new hospital, great 
as it is, is no greater for this day than the old one was 
for that. They were to each other as flower to fruit. 
The opening of this work was itself a consummation 
rather than a beginning. The mission had in its 
very beginning initiated medical work through its 
first missionary, Dr. Charles Taylor, in 1848. He 
continued for five years. It was continued by Dr. D. 
C. Kelley, afterwards the father-in-law of Dr. W. R. 
Lambuth, who went out in 1854, but was soon in¬ 
terrupted by his enforced return home. Then it 
was taken up by Dr. Lambuth in 1877. Here in 
Soochow it was anchored firmly by the establishment 
of this hospital. This was the first of those enter¬ 
prises founded under the foresight and zeal of Dr. 
Lambuth. It was planned on a liberal scale for 
that day and with a fine forecast of the developments 
that have since so nobly justified the conception. 
The wards were soon overflowing and the work took 
hold of the popular interest. There were visits and 
reports by civil and military authorities and even 
more than the usual amount of ceremony and polite 


One Soweth and Another Reapeth 63 

“kowtowing,” as eight officials came, the generals 
reported. 

If they gave truthful reports of all they did as well 
as saw, the Governor must have had some very 
hearty laughs; for what with getting sick over a 
foreign cigar, taking each other’s temperature, using 
the stethoscope on one of their number, discussing 
the pictures in Frank Leslie's Illustrated , and poking 
their noses into jars rank with the odors of tumors 
removed, they certainly had a unique time! 

One of the earliest fruits of this interest in high 
places was the call for treatment of sick and wounded 
soldiers. A graphic picture of a unique experience is 
given in the first report of the work. Dr. Lambuth 
found a batch of soldiers sweltering in an old Buddhist 
temple in August. A Chinese doctor had cut a 
bullet from the thigh of one of them, and plastered 
the wound up securely. The wise-looking attendant 
informed them that he had done this to keep the 
matter from coming out. “Thus for six days they 
had been lying unbathed, bloody, their limbs putrid 
with pent-up pus.” One poor fellow’s leg was gan¬ 
grenous to the knee; another was puffed to bursting 
almost from emphysemia caused by a spear thrust in 
the lung; still another was shot in five places, and a 
sixth wound made by the Chinese surgeon’s knife was 
the worst of all. “It turned out that the bullet 
was just under the skin and the surgeon had used a 
long brass knife that was green in some places.” 
A deadly conspiracy of bullet, poison, plaster, and 
filth against the healing forces of nature! The doctor 
demanded warm water and a cloth. “What do you 
want with it ?” the nurse lazily asked. “We want you 


64 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


to bathe these wounds so we can dress them.” “I 
was not sent here for that,” the nurse replied. Dr. 
Lambuth said: “Then the quicker you get out and 
stay away from here, the better for you.” A priest 
got water and stood with his fingers plugged in his 
nose. Foreign patience could stand no more, and 
Dr. Lambuth proceeded to roll up his sleeves and 
apply the adage, “If you want a thing done, do it 
yourself.” The result was, all of the soldiers were re¬ 
moved to the dispensary chapel, the only place avail¬ 
able, and five of them recovered. Through the influ¬ 
ence of this incident many other cases were sent in. 

There was a rigid schedule beginning with the 
rising bell at six o’clock, running through on the tap 
of the bell, and closing with the retiring bell. In 
this schedule religious instruction had its place and a 
primary place. Regular addresses and bedside talks 
were made, and distribution of scriptures and tracts. 

It is interesting to note the emphasis put by Dr. 
Lambuth on self-support from the beginning. 
Happily there was an unspoiled opportunity to test 
the theory. There had been no extensive example 
of gratuitous treatment and dispensing, thus setting 
unfavorable precedents. A plan was quickly worked 
out during the first year for making the hospital 
self-supporting from the day its wards were thrown 
open to the public. The experiment was a success 
and the institution was from the day of its opening 
self-sustaining. This record so joyously made and 
so proudly reported in the beginning continued 
through forty years. It raises the question as to the 
wisdom of cheapening our work and pauperizing the 
people under the influence of a false emphasis on 


One Soweth and Another Reapeth 65 

charity or a false fear of being considered mercenary. 
The fine line between self-denying service and the 
cultivating and maintenance of a robust sense of 
self-respect is not yet clearly drawn. After all, it is 
not what we give to people but what we build up in 
them that counts. At any rate, at the end of 1883 
a hospital valued at ten thousand dollars was ten¬ 
dered the Board for the five thousand nine hundred 
dollars appropriated, with only about one thousand 
deficit, which was assumed by Drs. Lambuth and 
Park. 

The humorous side of this serious business could 
not escape the Doctor nor keep out of his re¬ 
ports. Here is his account of a family of “sore¬ 
heads”—a malady that our own observation led 
me to consider incurable—that is, the American type: 

Itch and Water Chestnuts. 

This reminds me of a family of soreheads who lived outside 
the water gate of Soochow. Materfamilias came in one day, 
leading two children, with tinea favosa. With arms akimbo, 
“Mister Doctor, can you do anything for that?" Doctor, 
after a grave scrutiny, “I think I can." “If you can, I 
wish you would, right away, for we are about to scratch our¬ 
selves to death. Indeed we are, Doctor!” She looked as 
though she, at least, took a grim pleasure in doing her part of 
the scratching. “I’ll reward you, Mister Doctor, indeed I 
will. We are poor, but there is one thing we have got and we 
will bring you plenty of them.” The party received their 
medicine and retired. In a week she promptly returned; 
this time with four children, all with the same trouble. True 
to her word, she brought the doctor’s pay in the shape of a 
sack of water chestnuts. In spite of all remonstrance, those 
water chestnuts must be left, and left they were. 

Next week she appeared with six children, and water 
chestnuts. The next week the first two children and mother 

5 


66 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


disappeared, but the grandmother, four children, and water 
chestnuts arrived upon the scene of action. Another week 
and cousins began to appear, accompanied by the inevitable 
chestnuts, until we had sixteen members of the same family— 
all with the same affection. We ate water chestnuts raw, we 
had them fried into cakes, we made water chestnut pudding; 
they were in the kitchen, we found them in the storeroom, 
a bag full in the back entry, another under the filter. We 
gave them to the servants, we gave them to our medical 
students, we fed hungry patients, and yet we had more and 
to spare. We were not certain but that we were in for a 
plague of water chestnuts; but we were certain of one thing, 
yea, two things. One was, that that was the “ most numerous ” 
family of soreheads we had seen, and the other was the 
genuineness of their gratitude. 

The hospital continued to grow and the incidents 
to multiply. How full of keen and absorbing interest 
those early years must have been! I cannot forbear 
giving the account of the first experiment with 
cocaine as contained in the report of the year 1884: 

It was during this year that the powers of that wonderful 
anaesthetic cocaine were discovered. The drug had even 
reached Shanghai, but was being sold at fabulous prices— 
ninety cents a grain, or four hundred and thirty-two dollars 
an ounce. Of course it was far beyond our means, and yet 
I was extremely anxious to secure some for several poor 
patients upon whose eyes we were to operate. At this juncture 
a well-dressed young man entered the dispensary one day 
and, asking for me, wished to know if I visited private 
patients. Upon being answered in the affirmative, he im¬ 
mediately left, saying that he would send his chair for me at 
3 p.m. At that hour his chair came, and took me to his 
lodging place. Here I was introduced to his mother and sister 
and soon learned the history of the case. It was the family 
of an official who was acting District Magistrate in the city 
of Changchow. The mother and two children had for a year 
been looking after their property in and near the city of 
Tsang-zoh—their farms amounting to more than 1,000 mow. 


67 


One Soweth and Another Reapeth 

Fifty days previous to the time of my visit the young lady, 
seventeen years of age, had gone in company with her brother 
to the top of the hill partly lying in the city of Tsang-zoh. 

Here among the ruins of an old temple, or palace, she 
discovered what she took to be a pearl. Pressing it between 
her thumb and finger, it flew into a thousand fragments, one 
of which lodged in the cornea just in front of the pupil. 
Attempts were immediately made to remove it, for it was 
causing most agonizing pain, but all to no purpose. A native 
doctor was then called, but he failed. Then others, skilled 
in one thing and another, came in rapid succession. Some 
could not see it and doubted the existence of a foreign body; 
others saw it, but had no instrument with which to extract it; 
others tried to dissolve it by giving internal remedies; and 
others still declared it was an internal affection altogether, 
and only a long course of medication could put the system in 
a condition to throw off the poisonous principles which had 
accumulated in the eye and would soon spread through the 
whole body, involving every tissue, and finally consume the 
internal organs with raging heat. 

In this way the celebrated experts of several cities were 
consulted, one by one, and fifty days of precious time con¬ 
sumed—the fragment in the meantime having embedded 
itself deeply in the cornea, causing such extreme anguish 
that the tears flowed constantly, the light could scarcely be 
borne, and the eye rolled so continually and rapidly about in 
its orbit that when I first glanced at her it was impossible to 
see anything. 

After several unsuccessful attempts to make out the object 
I led her into the court and there, by the first flash of suhlight, 
saw the glistening fragment. I was immediately able to 
corroborate her story of the pearl, which had seemed rather 
fanciful, but saw at the same time that either chloroform or 
cocaine would be necessary to its removal. 

The family was wealthy, owning large estates, and had come 
from a distant city to consult me; having gone to the expense 
of chartering a boat and renting a house in Soochow, they 
determined, as a last resort, to give the foreigner a faithful 
trial. 


68 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


I suggested cocaine, and they immediately acquiesced, 
agreeing to foot the bill. 

As soon as the insignificant little white powder came from 
Shanghai, they were notified and invited to my study, where, 
in the presence of Dr. M. Philips, Mrs. Lambuth, and three 
medical students, the experiment with the new anaesthetic 
was to be made. 

The old lady was very uneasy and begged, again and again, 
that I should not take out the eye, nor would she be satisfied 
until she had examined the solution and especially scrutinized 
the medicine dropper. Five drops of a four-per-cent solution 
were instilled at 10:15 a.m. By 10:25 the eye was “decidedly 
anaesthetic”—so says the note in my diary, June 3, 1885— 
and at 10:30, the eye having lost its sensation and now being 
quite steady, I withdrew the cataract knife from my sleeve 
and, as good fortune would have it, with the very first effort 
succeeded in dislocating the fragment, which flew out. It 
was all over in an instant, and when I announced the fact that 
the foreign body was gone not one of the three believed it. 
Returning sensation satisfied the girl that she was relieved, 
and the brother, seeing that his sister complained no more, 
was convinced and stood back in silent admiration. Not so 
the mother! It had been in the eye fifty days—how could it 
be removed so soon? The foreign doctor had played them a 
trick. She looked intently at the eye. It was certainly all 
there. “Shut your eye,” she said to her daughter. “Now 
open it. Do you feel the piece of pearl?” “No,” was the reply. 
“Where jis it, then?” “I don't know,” responded the daugh¬ 
ter, “but it is gone. I am sure of that.” 

Then the old lady began to take in the situation. Aston¬ 
ishment and delight took the place of incredulity. Her 
gratitude and joy knew no bounds, and the praises with 
which she overwhelmed the operator were only equaled by 
her amusing and almost superstitious reverence for the medi¬ 
cine which could permit the eye to be pierced with a knife and 
yet experience no pain. Such is the pleasing history of the 
first use, in the provincial capital of a population of over 
thirty million, of a remedy which in a few weeks after its 
discovery almost revolutionized local surgery throughout the 
world. No adequate estimate can be made of the value 


One Soweth and Another Reapeth 


69 


of this drug, especially in diseases of the eye which prevail 
so extensively in Central China. Within the first week I 
used this same solution in four operations—three of them 
being absolutely painless. 

A native surgeon, hearing of the successful use of 
cocaine and not wishing to admit that the Chinese 
were behind in anything, declared that his people 
had a similar anaesthetic the chief ingredient of 
which was frog’s-eye juice. Dr. Lambuth was in¬ 
clined to take it as a joke, but after long search 
among the wholesale drug stores of Soochow the 
surgeon returned with a small, hard cake resembling 
beeswax, but harder, of a darker color, and semitrans¬ 
parent. Let Dr. Lambuth tell the rest in his own 
words: 

Anaesthetic One Thousand Years Old. 

It cost over two dollars an ounce, and would have cost 
more had it been a pure article; but the latter is almost im¬ 
possible to get. This cake was cut into pieces and soaked for 
some hours in water, together with a small white woody 
excrescence found growing upon the knot of some tree. 
After twenty-four hours the preparation was ready for use, 
and upon trial I certainly found it had anaesthetic properties. 
My tongue and lips became quite numb, and a finger im¬ 
mersed for some minutes in the solution lost sensation to the 
extent that a needle could be thrust into the end of it without 
pain. This man, as well as others, insisted that anaesthetic 
property lies in the juice of the frog’s eye and does not de¬ 
pend so much upon the other ingredient. I have since found 
that the drug is widely known to China, though little used. 
It is remarkable how the Chinese have either made or been 
upon the verge of making important discoveries, but have 
constantly failed to take advantage of them. The preparation 
called Ingleevin, which has been so extensively advertised 
in the medical periodicals as a specific for vomiting, has been 
in use here for one thousand years, but is used in the same 
crude form in which it was first prescribed. 


70 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


Prevision. 

It is with a sense of real and deep regret that I pen these 
last lines. The medical work in Soochow and the hospital 
itself had come to fill a large place in my heart. The work 
had been planned long before it was entered upon, and the 
hospital was ever in mind while studying the best institutions 
of America, Scotland, England, and France. 

While it falls far short of my ideal both in construction 
and management, still it is as near what we desired as limited 
funds, climate, materials, etc., would idmit. The con¬ 
tinued ill health of my family has positively prohibited 
further residence in Soochow. 

For this and other reasons at the end of this 
year, 1884, he resigned his work, went to Peking, and 
took work with the M. E. Church. Here he pioneered 
the hospital that was in some sense the forerunner of 
the Rockefeller Hospital, whose buildings cost 
$7,000,000, and which is said to be the finest and 
best-equipped hospital in the world. The act of leav¬ 
ing his own mission and going to another is only 
partially explained by health reasons. It does not 
appear that this step was formally authorized by 
the authorities, and it was terminated at the request 
of Bishop McTyeire, who considered the step un¬ 
authorized or without proper formalities. The tem¬ 
per and training as well as the lifelong practice of 
Dr. Lambuth are all against even an irregularity of 
this nature; and yet a reason may be found in the 
sharp division in the leadership of the mission on 
matters of policy at this time. The fact that his 
father was involved would give a color of justification, 
and might be set down to the credit of his filial 
loyalty. 


One Soweth and Another Reapeth 


71 


The record of a called meeting of the Mission on 
November 9, 1885, has only one item, as follows: 

Rev. Young J. Allen, D.D., Superintendent of China Mission. 

Dear Dr. Allen: We hereby tender to the Board of Missions 
our resignation from the China Mission, to take effect from 
August 1, 1886. We also respectfully request the Board to 
make provision for our return to the U. S. of America at that 
time. 

Yours truly, J. W. Lambuth, 

W. R. Lambuth. 

The record does not show that any action was 
taken or even that any motion was made except a 
motion to adjourn. The minute was signed by Y. J. 
Allen, President, and A. P. Parker, Secretary. 
Bishop McTyeire in his report calls attention to the 
sickness in Dr. Lambuth’s family and consequent 
absence, but no mention is made of his resignation. 


CHAPTER VI 
THE REGIONS BEYOND 


“ My time is short enough at best— 

I push right onward while I may; 

I open to the winds my breast, 

And walk the way." 

—John Vance Cheney . 

Two events occurred in 1885-86 that had a marked 
influence on Dr. Lainbuth’s future life. One was 
his work in Peking in connection with the M. E. 
Church. For several months he was there engaged 
in the establishment of a hospital, to which reference 
has already been made. It may be, for some reason, 
he intended to sever his connection permanently 
from the work in his Church and with the southeast¬ 
ern section of China. This he may have considered 
from a health standpoint, or it may have been a 
temporary arrangement as an accommodation to the 
Methodist Episcopal Board. Whatever may have 
been the ground of his action, it set him in a sym¬ 
pathetic relation to that Church which was main¬ 
tained to the end. Likewise it gave him a wider 
experience professionally and in relation to the 
Chinese Government and people. 

The other event was the opening of work in Japan 
and the appointment of the Lambuths, father and 
son, to that work. It is a curious fact that as early 
as 1876 Mrs. M. I. Lambuth had written the Board: 
“It does seem that Japan ought to be occupied by 
us. It seems sometimes that Japan would be a good 
(72) 


The Regions Beyond 


73 


field for Walter, but I scarcely dare breathe such a 
thought for fear of wrong. However, I can dare say 
that if I were younger and free to do so I would go 
there where people are willing and ready to learn. 
‘All things in their proper time and place,’ is a good 
motto and one that I will try not to forget.” 

In 1885 Dr. J. W. Lambuth had written to Dr. 
Kelley, then Secretary of the Board: “If our Board 
opens a mission in Japan, I am ready to go there to 
help in that work.” This sentiment grew out of his 
missionary passion and his study of God’s plan 
and purpose in redemption. It was also a result of 
observations of Japan as a field and the conviction 
that the hour had come for us to enter that Empire. 
Even earlier than either of these, Walter himself, 
during his youthful days in America, had written 
his father asking advice as to where he should work as 
a missionary. He had been greatly impressed with 
Japan as he passed that way to America for the 
first time, and he mentions the possibility of his 
locating in Japan. 

There were other influences, which need not here 
be discussed, tending to detach the Lambuth family 
from the China Mission. And while these influences 
may not have been of His devising, they were no 
doubt overruled for His glory, as has often turned 
out before. 

At the annual meeting of the Board of Missions 
held on May 6, 1885, the following resolution was 
offered by Bishop John C. Keener and adopted: 

Resolved, That we establish a mission in Japan, and that we 
appropriate therefor the sum of $3,000. 


74 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


It does not take long to read, but it requires gen¬ 
erations to measure the far-reaching and profound 
meanings of this action. There was no parade, no 
blowing of trumpets, but in the space of fifteen words 
and four modest figures a movement was launched 
that in thirty years made itself felt around the world. 

The Lambuths were chosen and appointed to open 
the work. This move necessitated the learning of a 
new language after the years in China, and beginning 
over among a strange people. It was a more violent 
and radical revolution in another aspect of Walter’s 
life plans. He had from his youth meant to be a 
physician. By painstaking and diligent study he 
had prepared himself for that work. He had given 
himself to it with whole-hearted devotion in China 
for eight years and had already achieved distinction 
and laid the foundation for yet greater things. Going 
to Japan meant virtually giving up his chosen pro¬ 
fession and turning his hands to other lines of work 
for which naturally he had less taste and—shall we 
say—less of adaptation. He was thirty-two years of 
age. Let any one try to think what this must have 
meant to him at his age and in his circumstances and 
he will get a fresh view of what it takes to make a 
real missionary. Suffice it to say that he went with¬ 
out a murmur from him or his devoted wife, who 
never learned the art of complaining—nor, for that 
matter, from any member of the Lambuth family 
was there ever hesitation or want of cheerful com¬ 
pliance. 

No time was lost in maneuvering, surveys, and 
parleys, but a frontal attack was launched without 
delay. This was followed by the selection of centers, 


The Regions Beyond 


75 


the adoption of policies, and a vigorous program of 
advance. Dr. W. R. Lambuth had been designated 
by Bishop McTyeire as the Superintendent of the 
Mission. In making this appointment the Bishop 
wrote: “ Your father’s age and the state of his health 
justify us in laying this burden of superintending 
on you instead of him. We do not underestimate 
his long, faithful, and valuable service in the foreign 
field; the experience which he has acquired in the 
general work and by his visits to Japan will be at 
your service.” It was a great responsibility. He 
was the youngest of the group of missionaries. His 
own father and mother were of the number, and they 
were veteran missionaries with a third of a century 
to their credit and a record for wise and devoted 
pioneering that set them among the immortals in 
missionary annals. Dr. O. A. Dukes, also sent 
from China, was a man of training and experience. 
The field was a hard one. It was among a people 
who had within a score of years broken away from 
their Oriental isolation and changed the customs of 
ages. They had adopted Western learning and were 
welcoming a Western civilization; but they were 
proud, self-conscious people and in religion conserva¬ 
tive and unemotional. The soil was rich, but it was 
no longer virgin. The plowshare of rationalism 
and of the scientific spirit had turned the soil already. 
What was to be done must be soon and vigorously 
begun. 

In the comprehensive report of the China Mission 
made to the Board in 1886 by Bishop McTyeire, he 
dwells at length on the question of a mission to Japan. 
He called attention to the changes going on in that 


76 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


country and warns of danger of losing what he calls 
the second opportunity, as we had lost what he calls 
the first great opportunity in 1859-60. But he warns 
that it would not be wise to establish a mission unless 
the Church was prepared to establish a strong one, 
11 fully abreast with the advances of the past twenty- 
six years, and conducted by men fully able to com¬ 
prehend the situation and meet its demands.” 

While this was going on Joseph Hardy Neesima, 
the great apostle of Japan, was praying, pleading, and 
working for the evangelization of his country with 
“a fire burning in his heart for Japan.” He wrote 
an appeal for Christian education, which was circu¬ 
lated in the United States, in which he said: 

Old Japan is defeated; new Japan has won its victory. 
The old Asiatic system is silently passing away, and the new 
European ideas so recently transplanted there are growing 
vigorously and luxuriantly. Within the past twenty years 
Japan has undergone a vast change, and is now so advanced 
that it will be impossible for her to fall back into her past 
position. She has shaken off her old robe. She is ready to 
adopt something better. . . . Her leading minds will no longer 
bear with the old forms of despotic feudalism, neither be con¬ 
tented with the worn-out Asiatic doctrines of morals and 
religions. .. . The pagan religions seem to their inquiring mind 
mere relics of the old superstition. 

It was in the face of conditions like these that 
young Lambuth—only thirty-two years of age—was 
taken from another mission, and from the medical 
superintendence of a hospital, to lead the forces and 
lay the foundations of a new mission. He entered on 
the task in 1887. 

Providence added a limitation more serious than 
those already mentioned in that, as it proved, he 


The Regions Beyond 


77 


was to remain in the field only four years. In that 
brief period he laid strong foundations and broad. 
It was evident that an alert, progressive people, 
eagerly devouring every scrap of Western literature 
they could get their hands on, and being deluged by 
infidel and rationalistic books, must be taught. The 
training of a Christian leadership was a task that 
was early recognized as essential here, even more than 
elsewhere. Accordingly one of the earliest develop¬ 
ments was a night school in Kobe which, through 
the generosity of Dr. W. B. Palmore, then editor of 
the St. Louis Christian Advocate , became Palmore 
Institute. It has been through the years a unique 
and conspicuous agency and has grown to be one of 
the outstanding institutions of the mission. It was 
begun in 1886, under N. W. Utley, then in the employ 
of the Japanese Government. 

Another far-sighted venture was Hiroshima Girls’ 
School. Dr. Lambuth was in charge of the Hiroshima 
District during his first year in Japan, and one of the 
results of his manifold labors was the beginning of this 
school. Miss Nannie B. Gaines joined in the school 
in 1887, almost from the beginning, and for thirty- 
seven years has been its great moving spirit. She 
has built for herself a lasting monument and by her 
wisdom and devotion has more than justified the 
foresight of the founder. The school was not with¬ 
out its vicissitudes in the beginning, with most un¬ 
comfortable and insufficient buildings and utterly in¬ 
sufficient funds—and at the end of two years of 
fruitless pleading and struggle against discourage¬ 
ment, it was compelled to close its doors. This re¬ 
sulted in Dr. Lambuth’s removal to Kobe, where it 


78 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


had been determined that the center of the mission 
was to be. Nevertheless his plea for funds for reopen¬ 
ing the Hiroshima School was effective, at least in 
so far that within a few months the school was 
reopened and has since held on its way with constant¬ 
ly increasing influence and popularity. It has set 
the light of faith aglow on the altars of thousands of 
Japanese homes and touched many high places of 
the land with the transforming power of consecrated 
intelligence. 

In Dr. Lambuth’s report to the Board in 1890 he 
refers to action taken concerning a boys’ school in a 
regular mission meeting on July 15, 1889, as follows: 

Resolved , That until the organic union of the two Method- 
isms of Japan becomes an accomplished fact the interests 
of our own work demand that our educational forces be con¬ 
centrated in Kobe, and that every department of our educa¬ 
tional work be carried on here; and, further, that immediate 
steps be taken to provide a faculty and facilities for thorough 
Biblical training in the Kwansei Gakuin; and, further, that 
the superintendent be instructed to notify the Secretary of 
the Japan Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church of this 
action. 

Thirty-five years have elapsed and at this writing 
“organic union of the two Methodisms is not yet” 
an accomplished fact; but happily it is on the near 
horizon. 

In September, 1889, the Kwansei Gakuin was 
begun at Kobe—or at Haradamura, a village about 
three miles from Kobe. It was a small beginning. 
An old and uncomfortable house was secured, and 
with characteristic self-denial the younger Lambuths 
moved into it in order to meet the requirements in- 


The Regions Beyond 


79 


volved in the purchase, slept in the loft while building 
was in progress, and gladly endured the discomforts 
and inconveniences that they might lay the founda¬ 
tions of this school. This spirit of adaptation and 
cheerful acceptance of discomforts is illustrated in 
the following story as told by his daughter: 

Father often told of something that happened when he and 
mother first went to housekeeping in China. They had ordered 
an American stove and what they thought jwas sufficient 
stovepipe, but when the stove arrived the pipe proved about 
five inches too short. The weather was extremely cold, and 
there was no extra pipe to be had in the Chinese city. Father 
was called out to see a sick man, and when he returned mother 
had had the stove placed on top of two large boxes, had moved 
the dining table in front of the stove, and was sitting on top 
of it in a rocking-chair reading a book. For a number of weeks 
they managed to keep warm in this way. 

The Kwansei Gakuin foundations were laid in 
prayer and faith, for there was little else to begin 
with. Soon twenty boys were gathered and the work 
was headed for the open sea. A student of the 
school gives the first extended and graphic ac¬ 
count of it in these words: 

A college named Kwansei Gakuin was established last 
September under our mission at Haradamura, a village apart 
three miles from Kobe. The campus now contains one dormi¬ 
tory and two professors’ residences, on ten thousand tsubo 
(about nine acres), along with nice grass, old trees, and other 
plants which offer us fresh air and nice fruits at the proper 
season. The Inland Sea, the mother supporting the life of 
the living, lies in front of us, and Mount Mays, the keeper of 
treasures, rests on our back. We have now about thirty 
students, with the Academic and Theological Departments; 
five of them belong to the latter, in which I am also a student. 
The location of the school is so good that we never dreamed to 


80 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


see the place of our ancestor, the Eden. We have sufficient 
supply for the physical strength. 

The professors, since the date the school was opened for 
the people of the nation, have been encouraging and praying 
for us to have devotional hearts as well as developed intellects. 
God does not forget nor hesitate to answer their prayers. 
We believe, we feel, that we are surely growing in the grace 
and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We the boarders 
have a prayer meeting every evening, and we feel that God’s 
blessing and mercy rest upon us, though poor servants, pro¬ 
tecting us from the various temptations and guiding us to the 
Zion’s temple. 

Since we had the revival of our faith or the spiritual revolu¬ 
tion among us at the regular meeting, the hearts of the new 
pupils were touched by the power of the Spirit, and were 
turned utterly toward the Sun of Righteousness, as well as 
the believers, though they did not listen to the glad tidings 
of salvation. So we have now a thoroughly Christian school— 
boarders without exception, earnest followers of Christ. 

When a payment was necessary in order to secure 
the property for this school, there were no funds. It 
was pay or lose the property. Dr. Lambuth went 
to the Hongkong Shanghai Bank and asked a loan. 
There was no money and no collateral and no security 
but the honor and integrity of the Lambuths— 
father and son—and the good name of the mission¬ 
aries. This foreign corporation trusted them and 
they got the money. It has been so from that day 
to this. The credit of our missions and missionaries 
is gilt-edge. No corporation has a better [credit 
round the world than Mission Boards. The money 
for starting Kwansei Gakuin was given by Mr. 
Thomas Branch, a Methodist banker of Richmond, 
Va. 

A Theological Department was opened at once, 



BISHOP LAMBUTH AND GENERAL YUN 

COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE OLD KOREAN ARMY 

BARON T. H. YUN 

FIRST MEMBER OF OUR CHURCH IN 
KOREA; FI RST CONTRIBUTOR TO 
THE ANGLO-KOREAN SCHOOL 


REV. T. SUNAMOTO 

FIRST NATIVE PREACHER OF THE 
JAPAN MISSION 










The Regions Beyond 


81 


with Dr. J. C. C. Newton at its head. The school 
was blessed the first year with a great revival, which 
resulted in the conversion of every one of the thirty 
students, four volunteers for the ministry, and two 
as Bible women. The student body became an 
evangelistic force in the surrounding country. This 
school has continued to develop until it is now one 
of the great schools of the empire. Since 1910 the 
school has been shared on equal terms by the South¬ 
ern Methodist and Canadian Methodist Boards. 
It now has over 1,700 students and a property equip¬ 
ment valued at about $1,000,000. In alhthese years 
this school has been one of the prime interests of 
Dr. Lambuth, indissolubly linked with those _ early 
struggles in Japan. 

The school work of Japan wab wisely planned with 
reference to the conditions of the country and to the 
immediate and prospective needs of the mission. 
The fine system of education already organized in 
Japan made unnecessary the establishment of primary 
and grammar schools, and, indeed, of any extensive 
system of schools. A school for girls and a school 
for boys on which the Board might concentrate its 
energies and resources were a sufficient base for the 
supply of leaders in the early years at least. The 
wisdom and foresight with which the mission was 
projected from the beginning are admirable. The 
outline given in Dr. Lambuth’s report to the Board 
in 1887 is worthy of reproduction as an exhibition 
of the care and thoroughness with which the work 
was planned. 

We have definitely settled on Kobe as the center of our 
base line. 

6 


82 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


1. It is the center of our legitimate field. The M. E. Church 
occupies territory two hundred miles to the north of us and 
three hundred miles to the south. 

2. It is the center of a railroad line being pushed to com¬ 
pletion. 

3. It is the most healthful seaport, for all seasons, of any in 
Japan. 

4. It commands the Inland Sea, all coasting vessels making 
this a depot. 

5. Being a treaty port, in almost weekly communication 
with America, China, and England, we have advantages here 
which could not be secured inland. Even the right of residence 
itself, outside of treaty port, is denied us until the revised 
treaty is ratified, unless we are engaged by a native company 
to teach. 

6. Resting as it does upon a lofty range of hills and on the 
southern slope, and reaching down along the shore of Osaka 
Bay; situated almost midway between the extremes of a long 
coast range where arctic winters and torrid summers reign; 
with commanding sites and broad, well-graded streets—what 
wonder is it that 250,000 people have already made their 
homes in Kobe, and others, like ourselves, are anxious to se¬ 
cure a foothold? 

Plan of Operations. 

Our plan, as far as elaborated, is as follows: (1) To occupy 
Kobe strongly as a center and supply station. (2) To estab¬ 
lish a base line running through this city northeast and south¬ 
west—this line to pass twenty miles to the northeast by rail 
through Osaka, the third city in the empire, with a population 
of 300,000; hence through Kyoto (forty-seven miles from 
Kobe), the western capital, for twelve centuries the sacred 
seat of the secluded Mikado, and still the great stronghold 
of Buddhism and Shintoism; but which now holds as well the 
most vigorous Christian college in Japan, besides numerous 
institutions of learning, both public and private. There is no 
surer method of dissipating the ignorance and superstition 
enshrined upon those elaborately templed hills of sacred 
Kyoto than by permitting the presence of those simple, 
whitewashed buildings thronged with students of Christianity 


The Regions Beyond 


83 


and science which dot the plain below. From Kobe we too 
can strike the entering wedge which shall rend this city of 
250,000 people—the second in the empire—to the core. 
Eleven miles further we reach Lake Biwa, fifty miles long, 
around which extends our Lake Biwa Circuit. 

Upon the other hand, southwest from Kobe our line will 
run along the northern shore of the Inland Sea, passing through 
five provinces and tapping Hiroshima Circuit at Hiro¬ 
shima, two hundred miles from here. From thence it will 
continue one hundred miles in the same direction, passing 
through Yamaguchi, the capital of Suno Province, and find 
its terminus at land’s end—the most western extremity of 
the main island of Honshiu. Here at the Straits of Shimone- 
seki, only a mile wide, we expect to shake hands with our 
Methodist brethren who are occupying the island of Kiushu. 
At present we are working this line by the aid of interpreters. 
As soon as feasible we want men from home stationed upon 
the northeast at Osaka, Kyoto, and on Lake Biwa; and upon 
the southwest at Onomichi, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, and 
Shimoneseki. These southwestern points are all important 
commercial centers, and command the hundreds of islands 
and thousands of villages which occupy the Inland Sea. 

The population of Japan, by reason of the inaccessibility of 
its mountain interior, is largely confined to a narrow zone, 
which fringes the coast line; and on account of the bleak winds 
upon the bleaker northern coast, which bears the brunt of 
Siberian winters, there has been a steady gravitation of the 
people to the southern slope of this great volcanic roof. Here 
is our field, and singularly enough occupied, as yet, at but one 
point by resident missionaries. We are late upon the field! 
Let us occupy vigorously what so providentially has been 
left open to us! We call for at least two men a year for this 
program! 

The following letter to the author is an illuminat¬ 
ing comment on this period of the Bishop’s life by 
one who was one of his first students and earliest re¬ 
cruits to the ministry. He speaks out of intimate 
fellowship extending over a long period of years, 


84 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


Kwansei Gakuin, Kobe, Japan, 
June 1, 1922. 

Dear Dr. Pinson: It is great pleasure for me to write some¬ 
thing in relation to the personality of our dear Bishop Lam¬ 
buth in reply to your favor of May 3, 1922. 

1. Study of Native Language. —When I made a missionary 
tour with Bishop Lambuth some thirty years ago from Oita 
to Uwajima, he never stopped the study of Japanese language 
even a day on the sea. So he took out his notebook and wrote 
down the Japenese which I had spoken at that time while I 
had been somewhat troubled with seasickness. 

He was so earnest and diligent of his study that everybody 
in the room wished to help him with earnest readiness. 

He had been very bold to speak in Japanese in public, 
which made it much easier for him to get acquaintance with 
many Japanese. 

2. Friends of Old Prince Dotte at Uwajima. —In his first tour 
down to Uwajima from Kobe there were some rumors among 
the people of this village town Uwajima, that a new mission¬ 
ary was coming by the name of Dr. Lambuth who was an 
expert medical doctor. When the prince, who was sick in bed, 
heard of the name he was very anxious to invite the mission¬ 
ary doctor to the home and get his medical suggestion. 

When Dr. Lambuth was invited, he was very polite ac¬ 
cording to the Japanese custom and showed full sympathy 
to the sick prince, who was over eighty years of age. When 
Dr. Lambuth returned to Kobe from the tour he sent the 
Bible, nourishing food, and some medicines to the prince. 
The result opened a new way for the gospel movement with 
more appreciation of his kindness from the people in general. 

In his second tour to the town in which I was the associate 
many people paid visits to his hotel, both for the physical and 
spiritual salvation. 

Thus the foundation of the Uwajima Church had been 
settled with much expectation. 

3. Discipline of Young Native Preachers. —With the opening 
of the new school, Kwansei Gakuin, Kobe, he was the first 
president of the institute and a professor of practical theology 
in the Divinity School. His lecture on the subject was not 
limited to the tejctbpok only, but he took the students very 


The Regions Beyond 


85 


often to the mountain forest which opens very near to the 
school campus and gave them the freedom in their practical 
exercise. His way of teaching was to show some freedom in 
the treatment of the subject, to appreciate the thought of 
the students in order to encourage the students with growing 
interest. 

4. Attitude to the Work in Japan .—When the negotiation for 
the union of the educational work in Japan in the Kwansei 
Gakuin between Canadian Methodist Church and M. E. 
Church, South, in the U. S. A., 1909, he called on me about 
the union to get my own opinion. He said at that time: “It 
is for Japanese. I have no idea to change any if it is dis¬ 
advantage to Japanese." 

That explains his attitude toward the Japanese work, 
whether it is evangelistic or educational work. He was very 
earnest always for the welfare of Japanese and ready all the 
time to help them with faithful possibility. 

5. His Hospitality .—He remembered so well about the 
personal events of his friends that it is not rare case to revive 
old facts of the friends from his own mouth. He had special 
genius to remember the name of his foreign friends. 

I owe him very much for the ministerial life till this day, 
especially to his friendship while I was in the U. S. A., both 
financially and personally. I am now in deep regret in losing 
one star in the far East. 

Respectfully yours, Y. Tanaka. 

It was agreed that fraternal and cooperative re¬ 
lations should be maintained with the Methodist 
Episcopal Church Missions and that their book 
house in Tokyo should be patronized as a source of 
supply for books, tracts, and printing. This was a 
prophecy of that spirit of unity which continued 
and which twenty years later resulted in the organ¬ 
ization of the Japan Methodist Church. 

It has sometimes been thought that Dr. Lambuth 
overemphasized institutional missions. This con¬ 
clusion rests on the number and importance of the 


86 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


institutions of which he was founder and promoter. 
It must be admitted that there was ground for at 
least a question at this point if judged from surface 
appearance. To concede this would raise some curi¬ 
ous questions. Why should he adopt a policy which 
was contrary to all his previous training and tradi¬ 
tions? It is well known that his father believed 
supremely in the spoken message. His ideal of a 
missionary was “the voice of one crying in the 
wilderness.” His life was one long heroic testimony 
to the reality of that conviction. 

The earliest recollections of Walter Lambuth were 
of those never-to-be-forgotten journeys in which 
his father preached in chapels, in homes, by the 
wayside, on the crowded streets, unwearied, un¬ 
discouraged, with a sublime faith in the power of 
the spoken word. This made its impression, an 
impression that was indelible. It appears in the 
early determination to be a missionary and to be a 
preaching missionary. But he was himself a medical 
missionary. This fact has been suggested to account 
for his emphasis on institutional forms of missionary 
effort. This may have helped, and no doubt did 
help, to strengthen his sense of the value of institu¬ 
tions that minister to the bodies and minds of men, 
as channels through which the redeeming love of 
Christ might be made manifest. But it will be 
remembered that in his preparation he had settled 
and fixed his purpose to prepare for the ministry 
of the Word, “medicine or no medicine,” and in his 
first mission charge in China he itinerated over 
hundreds of miles of territory, preaching and healing 
at the same time; and that here in Japan, in survey- 


The Regions Beyond 


87 


ing the needs, he puts a widespread evangelistic 
itineration at the very foundation and finds in 
Methodism a form of organized Christianity peculiar¬ 
ly adapted to meet that need. 

It is not without strong probability that his being 
in Japan at all was due to a controversy on mission¬ 
ary policy involving this very point we are discussing. 
There arose in China a sharp division of sentiment 
between the leaders which was at its height when 
Dr. Lambuth began his work there. When in 1885 
his father offered his resignation and asked for 
provision for his return to the United States the 
following year, the son joined him in that action. 
Although the records are obscure at this point, it 
is almost a necessary inference that it grew out of the 
controversy, and was on W. R. Lambuth’s part an 
act of filial loyalty and a protest against the policy 
and contention which were out of accord with the 
elder Lambuth’s convictions and practice. If this 
inference is correct, it is creditable to the son’s open- 
mindedness if, in the interest of the work, he after¬ 
wards laid himself liable to the charge of inconsist¬ 
ency. 

The incident is introduced here because of its 
bearing on the question of Dr. W. R. Lambuth’s 
emphasis on institutional as against evangelistic 
missions—a distinction more academic than real, 
and more a matter of emphasis than essential fact. 

But aside from this the incident has a most interest¬ 
ing bearing on a far larger question. One is driven 
to ask whether the mission in Japan would have been 
opened at that time if there had been no controversy 
in China. The Board was in debt; workers were 


88 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


painfully scarce even in China. Bishop McTyeire 
had approached the subject with caution in his re¬ 
port in 1885, one of his expressed conditions being 
that “it must do no violence to the China Mission, 
for no gains in Japan could compensate for losses in 
China.” He suggests a delay of five years, and that 
meantime exclusive attention be given to reenforcing 
the China Mission, all of which has the tone of 
statesmanship, and we imagine was not easy to 
answer. Yet history gives ample proof that there is 
a statesmanship of divine providence that transcends 
and often overturns our fairest and most rational 
deductions. Only One sees all the facts, and he 
alone scans all the future. In his hand mysterious 
and even untoward forces work strangely beneficent 
results. 

Suppose we had waited five years. Within that 
period the Constitution of the Empire was proclaimed 
and the first diet was chosen; Western education 
spread, Western literature, much of it hurtful multi¬ 
plied, and the new ideals of this wonderful people 
began to take on permanent forms. With the most 
experienced and best trained workers from China, 
we had in those five years planted centers of light 
and set forces in motion that would not have been 
possible to the same extent at the end of that period. 
What if the controversy in China, like that between 
Paul and Barnabas and that between Peter and Paul, 
made not only possible but expedient the opening 
of this mission without delay, and even at the ex¬ 
pense of China’s altogether inadequate force! To 
the extent to which it humbles those who furnished 
the occasion and those “whose widsom was made 


The Regions Beyond 


89 


foolishness” by the outcome, it exalted the wisdom 
and the unsleeping guidance of a divine providence 
toward those who in their blundering limitations are 
trying to do His will. 

As to Dr. Lambuth’s attitude on direct, apostolic 
evangelism the facts witness to his zeal on that score. 
In the mission as originally planned a large place was 
given to evangelism. Within the territory as sur¬ 
veyed in the beginning Dr. Lambuth traveled almost 
incessantly. We find him now at Hiroshima, now at 
Kobe in a revival, at Tadotsu, at Oita five times in a 
year, once in a “glorious revival”; now at Uwajima, 
Matsuyama, Takushimi, Osaka. Travel was not as 
easy as in America, we can well imagine. A charac¬ 
teristic incident related by Dr. Lambuth will serve 
as an illustration. They were staying at a Japanese 
inn. It was midsummer, mosquitoes were abundant 
and aggressive, and the inn was innocent of mosquito 
bars. Late in the night Bishop Wilson was wandering 
around seeking a way of escape from the heat and the 
mosquitoes when he found Mrs. Wainright using her 
skirt for a mosquito bar and Dr. Wainright on the 
floor with his pants suspended above him and in 
profound sleep with his face securely fortified in one 
leg of his pantaloons. 

In those early days they made haste to tell the 
story everywhere. It was not always mere discom¬ 
fort they faced. It was often the violence and wrath 
of the people! One of the very first native preachers 
was T. Sunamoto, a retired sea captain who had been 
converted in San Francisco, and had come home to 
tell his story of salvation to his own people. He 
expected to return to California, but he fell in with 


90 


Walter Russell Lambuih 


the Lambuths and remained. When I first met him, 
in 1912, he told me how the people used to stone 
their chapels and attack and persecute them. “Now 
it is too easy,” said he, “and we have not power in 
here”—smiting his breast. “Some persecution 
gives strength and keeps the Lord by the side.” 

If any excuses were needed for inserting the follow¬ 
ing letters from J. W. Lambuth to Mr. Sunamoto, 
then in Honolulu, their vivid representation of the 
work at that period would be ample: 

Yama No. 2, Kobe, Japan, 
December 30, 1889. 

My Dear Brother Sunamoto: Your kind and welcome letter 
of December 2, with its glad news, came safely to me two or 
three days since. I rejoice with you, my dear brother, that 
God has blessed you so abundantly with joy in the Holy 
Ghost. I know how happy you are, for God has for many 
years given me the same joy and peace. You remember I 
used often to talk to you of this great love of Jesus which often 
came to my soul, and told you it was joy which I could not 
express in words. The Lord so fills my soul with his gracious 
promises sometimes that I feel like crying out, “Bless the 
Lord, O my soul!" and then I feel that nothing is too precious 
to keep back from Jesus; but I am willing to give him my all, 
soul, body, and spirit, and all my time and all I am and all I 
have. I am sure you feel so when God fills you with his love 
and his Holy Spirit. Can you wonder now that I love to 
work for Jesus? Can you wonder that I love to teach the 
Japanese the way to Jesus? O, if I could only speak, this 
language as the natives do, I would go up and down through 
this land telling these people of the love of Jesus and that he 
died for them! Pray for me that God unloose my tongue that 
I may tell abroad among your own countrymen the news of 
salvation through Jesus. ... I have read your last letter to 
some of the native brethren and it has done good. Write 
often to me, and I pray the Lord to more abundantly bless 


The Regions Beyond 91 

you and help you to come back soon to us in Japan. Ask 
Christian friends to pray for me. 

As ever your brother in Christ, J. W. Lambuth. 

Yama No. 2, Kobe, Japan, 
April 9, 1890. 

My Dear Brother Sunamoto: Your kind letter came to hand 
about one week since and I was truly glad to hear from you. 
You did not say anything about getting my last letter to you. 
I directed to the Japanese Consulate, Honolulu. I am glad to 
know you are meeting with so much encouragement in your 
work in the Sandwiqh Islands among your own people. I 
have had two or three letters from you and some two or three 
young men have come from there bringing letters from you. 
Be sure and give these letters to me that we may be able to 
keep watch of them and find them out. We still have a good 
work at Tadotsu and all the members there are very earnest 
and seem determined to have a church for themselves. Some 
of the members have brought their armor and some their 
swords. We have now seven armor and about twenty swords. 
All are for sale and to be used in building a church in Tadotsu. 
I would be glad if some persons in America would buy them 
and thus help the members there to build a church. . . . 

I wish you could be with us to help us in this work in Japan. 
When will you return to your native land? Write me as often 
as you can. Always let me know when any of the Christians 
return to Japan. Give me their address, that I may find them 
out and get them to do Christian work. Tell Brother Mitani 
that his father and mother, sister and brothers are all very 
happy and working to bring others to Christ. . . . My dear 
brother, I see more and more every day the great need for 
the gospel of Christ to be spread all over this land and to be 
made known to all this people. Nothing but the grace of God 
can help men to love each other. 

Let me hear from you soon and often, and I pray the Lord 
to keep you from all harm and from all sickness and help you 
to do much good. We all send our kindest regards to you, 
and with earnest prayers for you, I remain, 

Your brother in Christ, J. W. Lambuth. 


92 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


This Pauline apostle Sunamoto still abides, and 
his faith abides as he works and prays unceasingly, 
in the city of Shimoneseki, for the Lambuth Memorial 
Church which he is seeking to build in that city. 
He guided the writer to the humble Japanese inn 
where Dr. and Mrs. Lambuth first resided in Hiro¬ 
shima. A visit to that inn would be a wholesome 
object lesson to some modern critics of the mission¬ 
ary, and its lesson might not be amiss to the young 
missionary of this later day. 

The remark of Brother Sunamoto quoted already, 
concerning persecution and power, is abundantly 
justified in the remarkable revival which took place 
in the city of Oita. It was a period of persecution 
that had put a severe test not only on the young 
converts, but also on the missionaries in that city 
with its traditions of the exterminating persecutions 
of the Catholics of a much earlier day. The work 
which had shown promise was in danger of being 
permanently checked. The following account, writ¬ 
ten at the time by an eyewitness and one who shared 
in that memorable experience, was printed in the 
Missionary Reporter of May 20, 1890: 

These persecutions brought Dr. Wainright and his noble 
band of boys down upon their knees. By the time we reached 
Oita an atmosphere of an approaching shower of grace was 
over them and filled the church. Upon the evening of De¬ 
cember 31 four of us assembled in our brother’s sitting room 
as one man for prayer and rededication of ourselves. We then 
and there received such a revelation of the presence of the 
Almighty as we had never before experienced. For two hours 
we four wrestled with God. It was our Peniel. We saw God 
face to face, and were preserved. I say this with awe and 
humility. Such a humbling of ourselves we never had before. 


The Regions Beyond 


93 


The awful presence of a pure and holy God threw us upon our 
faces prostrate before him. After two hours we arose and 
gazed into each other’s faces with mute astonishment; 
whether in the body, or not in the body, we scarcely knew. 
Unable to eat supper, with one accord we assembled in the 
adjoining chapel. One of our native brethren—Brother 
Yoshioka—preached as though inspired. I have never before 
heard such a sermon from any tongue. The Holy Spirit fell 
upon us with a mighty rush, and swayed the congregation as 
if by the sweep of a tornado. Conviction was followed by 
conversion, and the shouts of the redeemed ascended to 
heaven. Four young men have been called to the ministry 
as a result of that meeting. Two are in our Kobe Bible School 
to-day. Two Bible women have been given us. The young 
men—God bless them!—rushed from the house after 12 
o’clock that night and, going to their homes, waked their 
heathen parents from their heavy slumber and with tears 
urged them to repentance. The Lord answered their prayers, 
and the parents of several came during the next two days and 
with moistened eyes confessed that they had wronged their 
sons. 

In ten days more the blessing came to our boys’ school in 
Kobe, and at this writing not one heathen boy is left in our 
dormitories; to a man they have professed faith in Christ as a 
personal Saviour. Rejoice with us, dear Doctor; this is indeed 
the hand of the Lord. “ His hand is not shortened.” 

In this hour Dr. Lambuth and Dr. Yoshioko and 
H. Nakamura came on the scene. Dr. Wainright 
writes of this remarkable revival that followed their 
visit. In conversation with Dr. Lambuth it was 
discovered that they had both been led to unusually 
earnest and constant prayer—Dr. Wainright under 
the hindrances and persecutions and Dr. Lambuth 
under the burden of his new and unaccustomed 
responsibilities as Superintendent of the Mission. 
Let Dr. Wainright tell the story: 


94 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


We do not recall whether it was on the last day of the year 
or a day or two earlier. But preceding a night service that had 
been announced for the congregation, four of us knelt for 
prayer in my study about 4 o’clock in the afternoon—namely, 
W. R. Lambuth, Y. Yoshioka, H. Nakamura, and myself. 
After we had spent some time on our knees, and while Dr. 
Lambuth was praying, a very strange thing occurred. While 
praying in a deliberate manner, his voice suddenly began to 
show weakness and gradually seemed to fail him. We could 
tell by his language that he felt a disturbed sense of the 
presence of God. He begged for release from an oppression 
which his strength could not endure. What troubled him, 
and seemed to terrify him, was a consciousness that God was 
near and mysteriously visible to him. His failing strength, 
which might have alarmed us, really gave us no concern, and 
yet it seemed that life was actually sinking away. When his 
voice grew weak and reached almost the vanishing point, he 
began to call upon Christ to stand between him and the 
overpowering presence. That plea evidently met with response, 
for he began to rally and he seemed to have a distinct vision 
of the approach of Christ. At this point not only did he begin 
to rally, but what seemed to be an upward tide swept the 
room. It carried away burdens that had rested heavily 
upon us for months. It liberated our spirits, and our joy was 
so great that we scarcely knew whether we were in the body 
or out of the body. The time slipped by without our knowl¬ 
edge, and before we had arisen from our knees the maid came 
to announce the evening meal. No one went to the table, as 
we remember. The experience of the afternoon was so intense 
that we were preoccupied with the joy of the moment. The 
upper rooms were not all in Jerusalem, but there in that dis¬ 
tant spot God had poured out his Spirit upon us as upon those 
at the beginning. 

The evening hour soon came and the congregation gathered 
in the adjoining house, where a place of worship had been 
provided by converting two large rooms into one. Dr. Lam¬ 
buth opened the service and Dr. Yoshioka delivered the 
address, speaking with great earnestness. Indeed there was 
a peculiar glow upon his face as he told of Christ and his grace 
to save. After a song, all knelt in prayer. Following the 


The Regions Beyond 


95 


usual custom, one succeeded another in leading the congre¬ 
gation. It was while we were on our knees that suddenly out 
of the great unseen there swept upon us and through the con¬ 
gregation a power as real as it was mysterious. All seemed to 
bow under its influence as the grain sways before the wind. 
Some were overawed. Some were smitten in their consciences. 
Some were made joyously happy. It was a memorable scene. 
Namio Yanigawari, one of the leaders among the young men, 
rose to his feet, opened the New Testament at the second 
chapter of Acts, and began to read. Lifting the book up so 
that all could see it and pointing his finger to the Word, he 
declared with earnestness and emphasis that the account 
which they had read, but hitherto could not understand, was 
now fulfilled before their eyes. It was well on toward mid¬ 
night before the closing hymn was sung and when all faces 
seemed to be as one face, because of the common light that 
rested upon all. On the way home some were converted who 
had been present. The next night so many came that the 
big front gates had to be barred after the house was filled. 
It was noised abroad among the people that God had come 
down and made himself known to the Christian congregation. 

During the first four years there was great lack 
of workers. Only two were added to the original 
force sent over from China at the full charge of the 
Board, Miss Nannie B. Gaines in 1887 and T. W. B. 
Demaree in 1889. The Board agreed to send out 
those whose travel and outfit were provided by them¬ 
selves or their friends, and in some cases they were to 
assume their own support—under these terms C. B. 
Mosely, B. W. Waters, J. C. C. Newton, S. H. Wain- 
right, N. W. Utley, Laura Strider, W. E. Towson, 
and Mary Bice went out. Of these, S. H. Wainright 
and N. W. Utley 'began their work by teaching in 
Government schools. 

The debt of the Board and the smallness of the 
income set an embarrassing limitation on the work. 


96 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


Only $78,000 was spent on the work during the four 
years. This was got with much pleading. Enter¬ 
prises were hampered, some were started and dis¬ 
continued. Many discouragements and testings of 
faith set their stamp on the work and workers of 
these eventful years and drove them to the higher 
sources of power. 

Yet through all the limitations and experimenta¬ 
tions it is a gratifying testimony to the wisdom of the 
plan originally set forth that this plan has been 
adhered to with a fidelity and a tenacity that have 
been abundantly justified. 


CHAPTER VII 

FOLLOWING THE GLEAM 


“He did God’s will, to him all one 
If on the earth or in the sun.” 

—Robert Browning. 

It became necessary, on account of the health of 
his family, that Dr. Lambuth should return to the 
United States. He left Japan early in the year 1891. 
He seemed destined to have no continuing city. 
It was by no means assured that this change would 
be permanent. He quit the field with the hope of 
returning in a few weeks or at most in a year. But 
this was not to be. Providence had other work for 
him. He did not rest. It was not his way. We soon 
find him speaking through the Missionary Reporter , 
the missionary periodical of his Church, in a depart¬ 
ment that bore his name. There was the urge of 
immediacy and the throb of passionate sincerity in 
the paragraphs he wrote. He was not only fresh 
from the firing line, but still in the campaign and in 
it to stay. He could have made a great editor. 
He not only wrote well, but he had the rare art of 
seizing on the vital and salient thought or fact and 
making it visible. His appeals were to the imagina¬ 
tion. They were couched in terms of the concrete 
rather than the abstract. He had a fine appreciation 
of the human elements and knew how to go straight 
to the heart and win his verdict with the emotions. 

There was at the time of his return a movement in 
7 (97) 


98 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


progress to raise money to pay a debt which had 
for some time hampered the progress of the work. 
It had driven the Board to reduce the appropriations 
twenty per cent in spite of the crying demands of the 
work. The presence of Dr. Lambuth added strength 
to the force at the command of the Board for this 
campaign. He entered into it with his accustomed 
vigor. The Board had decided at the annual meeting 
in 1891 that he should remain in the United States 
during the year, making the rounds of the Annual 
Conferences and presenting the cause of Missions 
wherever opportunity offered. Opportunities were 
not wanting. We soon find that he is making himself 
felt. In St. Louis he secures the travel, rent, and 
personal teacher’s salary of W. A. Davis as mission¬ 
ary to Japan. At Centenary Church a working girl 
gave $25 of her scant earnings. During a visit to 
the Meridian (Miss.) District Conference twenty- 
five parents consecrated all their children to God 
for foreign mission work, and five young men and 
three young women gave themselves. Even with 
the financial pressure upon the Board, we find him 
pressing the claims of Japanese sufferers from a severe 
earthquake in which 5,000 lost their lives and 9,000 
were injured, 4,400 houses destroyed and 17,000 
partially destroyed. 

Two events of the year affected him deeply: One 
was the death of his beloved father. On April 28, 
1892, the veteran missionary ceased at once to work 
and live. He faced the sunset shadows in Kobe, 
Japan, with a record of unwavering devotion and of 
noble service to mankind, and won the title of 
“ Father of the Inland Sea Mission.” The tender 


Following the Gleam 


99 


affection and reverence of Walter Lambuth for his 
father were of a rare sort. The letters written to the 
father while Walter was in the States attending school 
were full of filial affection. His father’s death left 
the son lonely, not only for the Orient but for the love 
and counsel of the gentle soul that had been so great 
a stay and guide to him hitherto. 

The second event was the death of Dr. Weyman 
H. Potter, one of the Secretaries of the Board, who 
had been elected only a few months before. Dr. 
Lambuth was detailed to take his place, and at once 
entered upon the duties of the office. There were 
three Secretaries at that time—viz., I. G. John, H. C. 
Morrison, and W. R. Lambuth. This post he filled 
till the General Conference of 1894. The long and 
arduous labors of Dr. John had so told upon his 
strength that the Board found it necessary to vote 
him an indefinite period of rest. This left only two 
active Secretaries. At a called meeting of the Board 
Dr. Lambuth was authorized to act as Corresponding 
Secretary pro tem. Thus he took his place in the 
administrative work of the Board when it was enter¬ 
ing on a new day and facing larger responsibilities, 
and yet with serious limitations and want of generous 
support. At the General Conference of 1894 Dr. 
Lambuth was elected Corresponding Secretary. 

Thus the changes continued to come thick and 
fast upon him—changes that went deep and far in 
their meaning. In a few short years he had gone from 
America to China, from Shanghai to Soochow, from 
Soochow to Peking, from Peking to Japan, and from 
Japan to America. He had also changed from one 
Board to another and back again, from one hospital 


100 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


to another, from medical to itinerant superintendent, 
from superintendent to associate Secretary pro tem., 
and then to Corresponding or General Secretary. 
Was this a prophecy of the future shifting of this 
human shuttle from zone to zone and from continent 
to continent till the shining thread of life snapped 
and the worn shuttle stopped? 

Dr. Lambuth’s secretaryship began at a time when 
the missionary enterprise had begun to occupy the 
best and the most earnest thinking of men. It had 
begun to create Christian movements that overswept 
and bound into one the great divisions of the Church 
Universal. Into all these movements he threw him¬ 
self with a whole-hearted earnestness. He was 
peculiarly fitted for this, not only by his training 
and experience as missionary, but by his natural 
catholicity of spirit. 

During this decade the Young People’s Mission¬ 
ary Movement, the Student Volunteer Movement, 
and the various denominational movements among 
young people came into being, including the Epworth 
League of Methodism. 

Greatest of all in its significance and scope was the 
Conference of Foreign Mission Secretaries, which 
later became the Foreign Missions Conference of the 
United States and Canada. He saw in these move¬ 
ments the means of larger resources and greater 
efficiency in the great task of winning the world. 

He was a moving spirit in the organization of the 
first great Young People’s Conference at Silver Bay, 
N. Y. His zeal and intelligent cooperation were given 
credit, to a great degree, for making it possible. 
A similar meeting on Lookout Mountain, at Chatta- 


Following the Gleam 


101 


nooga, Tenn., in 1894 was in great measure due to 
his efforts. It was a memorable meeting and one 
often hears echoes of it as one of the great and historic 
meetings of vision and power. Many leaders met 
their challenge to a life of service and got their con¬ 
secrating illumination on those heights. 

In 1894 he had the privilege of visiting Brazil. 
This was his first visit to the Latin-American mission 
field. It gave him a new sense of the vastness of the 
task and of the peculiar difficulties to be met and 
overcome in a semi-Christian land. 

During this year 1894 another great sorrow came 
into his life in the death of his mother, who ascended 
from Soochow, China, on June 26. The sad news 
reached him in Rio de Janeiro. The shock was great. 
His devotion to his mother was almost without 
limit. He honored her nobility of purpose, admired 
her ability, her courage, and her self-sacrificing serv¬ 
ice. Who would not be proud of such a mother? 
On receiving the news he wrote the following in a 
letter to his brother and sister in China: 

Hers was a heroic life. You and I know it well. What 
devotion through the years! What toil! What unselfish, even 
lavish expenditure of her own strength for the sake of others, 
and for Christ’s sake. O, my mother, my mother, would that I 
might have held your hand once more, just once more! But 
it is all right, Nora. I would not for a world have had her 
away from you and Robert at such an hour. God gave you 
the sweet privilege to be with and to do something to make her 
a little more comfortable, and I am glad for your sakes and for 
hers. 

In spite of a reduction in the appropriations and 
even a reduction in the missionaries’ already small 
salaries, the debt continued to grow until a definite 




102 


Walter Russell Lambutk 


effort was required to meet it. This was undertaken 
and carried out by a heroic effort. The Secretaries 
gave themselves to this with unstinted industry. 
The early part of the last decade of the nineteenth 
century was one of the most distressing in the history 
of the country. The unparalleled stringency of the 
money market and the consequent derangement of 
trade made it unusually hard to secure funds for a 
cause so remote as that of Foreign Missions. It was 
doubtless in this campaign that Dr. Lambuth learned 
the art of interesting and securing the aid of indi¬ 
viduals who were able to give liberally. At any rate 
he found that secret and utilized it. The Church had 
not learned the art of liberal giving and did not do 
so, even under his administration, although he was 
able to secure special gifts and to win sympathy for 
special enterprises. 

Dr. Lambuth was a charter member of the Foreign 
Missions Conference of North America, above re¬ 
ferred to. This body is representative of the Prot¬ 
estant Boards of Foreign Missions in the United 
States and Canada. From the first meeting, in 1893, 
Dr. Lambuth rarely missed a meeting, and was an 
honored member to the last. He served once as its 
chairman, and often on its important committees. 
He suffered no delusion as to the magnitude of the 
task of world evangelization, nor as to the utter 
inadequacy of any single denomination being able 
to do it alone. No more did he believe in the final 
conquest of the world by the attack of a divided and 
competing army. Hence, when a body comprising 
over half a hundred boards and societies of the 
United States and Canada was proposed, he did not 


I 


Following the Gleam 


103 


hesitate to go in with all his might to cooperate with 
and promote this effort of a united Protestantism. 

There were not wanting among our leaders those 
who criticized the movement, and indeed there was 
some hesitation on the part of the entire denomina¬ 
tions. But with a clear vision of the necessity of 
combination and of the possibilities lodged in the 
united Protestant forces of this continent, Dr. Lam- 
buth never wavered in his devotion. Mr. W. Henry 
Grant, the first and long-time Secretary of this body, 
wrote of him: 

He took the lead in putting through an organization plan 
and procedure at Clifton Springs July 15, 1898, when the 
preparations for the Ecumenical Missionary Conference in 
New York, of 1900, were halting because the General Com¬ 
mittee had limited ideas of the work and organization it would 
take to prepare for and conduct a great conference of ten days 
in New York City, of three thousand members and as many 
more daily visitors. 

I find that he attended nineteen out of twenty-eight of the 
Annual Conferences held during the period from 1893 to 1921 
—his first in 1893 and last in 1921. For several years he 
served as Chairman of the Committee on Self-Support of the 
Annual Conference, and likewise of the Ecumenical Conference 
of 1900. One of his most masterly papers is published in the 
Report of 1896, on pages 78-90, on “How to Increase the 
Efficiency of the Officers of Foreign Missions Boards." 

You will find many of the formal things he did by the index 
of the Reports for 1916 and the following, the Ecumen¬ 
ical Missionary Conference and World Missionary Conference 
of 1910. He served on the Committee of Reference and 
Counsel several terms and was always a wholesome modifier 
of the extremes, while an encourager of all well-considered 
progressive moves. You probably will find his reports to your 
Board mentioned in your minutes and definite articles in 
your missionary magazines. 

His account of his observations while passing through the 


104 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


famine district in China may be said to have been the most 
effective testimony in starting the Committee on Famine 
Relief. In 1921 I published it in the Summit Herald and had 
some thousands of copies struck off so that the committee 
would have some real propaganda to begin with, while waiting 
to perfect their machinery and get the latest reports. The 
committee afterwards published it by the tens of thousands. 

At the meeting of the Board of Missions held in 
May, 1896, a resolution was adopted authorizing 
the bishop in charge of the China Mission to receive 
special funds for the maintenance and development 
of the work in Korea. This resolution was signed by 
W. A. Candler and W. R. Lambuth. In ‘‘The Gen¬ 
eral Review” of 1897 Dr. Lambuth, speaking of the 
outlook in Korea, says: “The Church has not been 
slow to take advantage of a field so favorable. We 
have thrown our little force into two centers and 
projected work along a line of villages, in one of 
which our Superintendent reports fourteen probation¬ 
ers.” For the first time the name of Dr. C. F. Reid 
appears as presiding elder of the Korea District. 
Again a missionary had been sent over from China 
to organize a new mission. Thus the China Mission 
may be called the Mother of Oriental Missions, even 
as China herself was in the past the mother of civili¬ 
zation and literature. It is an interesting fact that 
this mission, in even a more intimate way, was the 
offspring of China. Dr. T. H. Yun, a child of the 
nobility, who had fled from Korea when a boy, 
studied under Dr. Y. J. Allen and then came to 
America, studied at Emory College, then at Vander¬ 
bilt, always and everywhere with honor, had returned 
to Korea and been given the post of Commissioner of 
Education in the King’s Cabinet. He urged the 


Following the Gleam 


105 


opening of work by the M. E. Church, South, in his 
beloved Korea, and made the first contribution to¬ 
ward it. He became an outstanding leader and is 
to-day one of the best loved men in Korea and a 
noble Christian man. 

As soon as possible after the Spanish-American 
War Dr. Lambuth went to Cuba and made a circuit 
of the island, preparatory to opening work there. 
His touching and vivid recitals of the conditions 
moved the hearts of the people and won them to the 
movement. It would have been easy for one worldly- 
wise and conservative to have made a case against 
the opening of a new mission in any country. The 
financial condition of the Board was far from pros¬ 
perous. The Japan Mission was yet young and the 
equipment painfully inadequate. The missionary 
force was still feeble and every field making ineffective 
pleas for reenforcements. Like Paul, “none of these 
things moved him.” He was aided by the able and 
eloquent advocacy of Bishop W. A. Candler, first 
Bishop of that field and whose leadership for the 
first decade and more set the work well on the way to 
success. 

The one dominant urge and passion of the life of 
Dr. Lambuth was to press on into the regions beyond. 
He was never content with the conquests of to-day, 
but always forecasting new victories for to-morrow. 
This was true not only in a geographical sense, but 
in every sense of new adventure into hitherto un¬ 
exploited methods, lines of service, and fields of 
endeavor. Mere conservation, the task of “keeping 
the Church forever the same,” was not to his liking. 
The searchlight of his life was the Spirit that con- 


106 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


stantly “ showed him things to come.” This trait 
constantly came out in the period with which we are 
dealing. He was seizing a new instrument of progress 
here, entering a new field there, starting a new enter¬ 
prise yonder, trying a new method to-day, testing a 
new instrument to-morrow, and winning a new ally 
overnight. Those who worked with him sometimes 
grew dizzy and a bit impatient. They called it 
“keeping on the jump.” They wanted to stop and 
“dig in.” They saw the line grow thinner as it 
advanced and lengthened. They cast longing eyes 
backward toward the belated and crippled Com¬ 
missary Department. They scanned the books with 
growing figures in red. They heard the plea of 
missionaries for equipment and saw their numbers 
thinning. Still the cry was, “Forward.” 

In all this two things are worthy of note, for they 
bear a lesson of value. The first one is, he was never 
impatient. There was none of that heat and intoler¬ 
ance toward the conservative and slow of heart that 
characterize fanaticism. He wrought with the quiet¬ 
ness of a persistent purpose and a secure faith. Even 
the cautionary critics could not charge him with 
recklessness, nor lack of courtesy and consideration. 
They did sometimes discover that he had won his 
way by methods they had not suspected. He had 
wrought while they slept and had set his sails to take 
advantage of shifting winds and cross currents. 
When he arrived, they were surprised to find them¬ 
selves helplessly with him, and not always with ap¬ 
proval. But what were they to do when faith, daring, 
and the Great Commission were on his side? Do? 


Following the Gleam 


107 


Why, they were left one thing to do—tense their 
muscles and bend their backs to the task involved. 

The second thing that it is worth while to consider 
is, that almost always his visions proved to be those of 
a seer. Time is the tester of prophets. Wisdom can 
only be justified of her children. We must often 
wait till the jury of a new generation has deliberated 
before we get a true verdict in the case of Prophet 
vs. Scribe. The whole future is arming in defense of 
the true prophet, and the unborn generations are 
commissioned to kindle on the dead ashes of his 
martyrdom the white signal fires of new eras. It will 
always be true that one reaps with joy where another 
sowed in tears. We shall be a long time filling in the 
bold outlines of the program sketched by Dr. Lam- 
buth. 

A favorite illustration of his was that of a shining 
wire in the heart of the Sierras, conveying power and 
pointing the way to where that power was delivered 
in the great city. As it gave back to him the gleam 
of the sunlight it set him thinking of the signals of 
light and power flashed upon the soul, and the call 
to every brave soul to follow the gleam. 


CHAPTER VIII 
BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM 

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” 
— Emerson. 

The early years of the twentieth century find Dr. 
Lambuth exhibiting those qualities of seer and states¬ 
man that in after years meant so much. As seer he 
kept his eye fixed on the far goal, while as statesman 
he never lost sight of those wide stretches over which 
a highway must be cast up. The practical man would 
have called him a dreamer and the visionary man 
would have called him a plodder, because each would 
have seen in him that which he himself lacked. It 
has been said of Lord Kitchener that out of a multi¬ 
tude of things he had the knack of sensing the thing 
that mattered. Dr. Lambuth was always busy with 
the things that mattered and patiently seeking the 
means to bring them to pass; the latter, however, 
was for him the less inviting and more difficult phase 
of the great task. In 1902 we find him urging those 
measures of progress which in recent years have 
become more familiar; a closer relation between the 
General and Annual Conference Boards; the holding 
of mid-year meetings of Conference Boards; the 
establishment of missions in cities under the General 
Board; continuous supervision of foreign fields and 
Annual Conferences by the bishops; delay in setting 
up Annual Conferences in foreign fields till there are 
trained leaders and a fair measure of self-support; 

(108) 


Beginning at Jerusalem 


109 


readjustment of Western work, financial and admin- 
strative; auditing accounts of treasurers of Confer¬ 
ence Boards; reorganization of office force to include 
a staff of departmental secretaries. This compre¬ 
hensive program sounds as commonplace now as it 
was progressive a score of years ago. 

This was a period of preparation. Everywhere 
there was a spirit of eagerness and a tugging at the 
shore lines of the missionary enterprise. It was one 
of those birth hours in which new eras come into 
being. The closing years of the nineteenth century 
and the opening years of the twentieth had been 
signalized by stirring events. The war between 
China and Japan in 1894-95 had shaken the East and 
set new forces in motion. European nations had 
seized great areas of China. The Spanish-American 
War had suddenly and unexpectedly made the 
United States a world power in a new sense, giving 
her free entry to Cuba and giving into her keeping 
the Philippine Islands, thus thrusting upon her re¬ 
sponsibility for the Far Eastern problem. The 
Boxer movement had shocked China further awake 
and given the Western powers larger influence still. 
The world was atremble with expectation and seeth¬ 
ing with change. In Dr. Lambuth’s own words: 

With an effete Romanism, superstitious and immoral, 
giving way to agnosticism in our Latin neighbors; with the 
old religion breaking down and leaving Japan to rationalism; 
with China at last beginning to be moved, and opening her 
doors to the deadening influences of Western dollar-worship 
and Japanese materialism, before Christianity has had time 
to take firm hold on her life—with all these movements taking 
place about us, do we not stand at the crucial point of the 


110 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


century? It is largely with us to decide which way this onrush- 
ing tide of awakening shall move. 

The openings abroad were paralleled by preparation 
at home. The Ecumenical Conference of Foreign 
Missions was held in New York in April, 1900. It 
was the first of its kind in America, if not in the 
world. “It may be said that when all the streams of 
its influence have been measured in their results, it 
will be pronounced the greatest meeting since the day 
of Pentecost,” wrote Dr. James Atkins (afterwards 
Bishop). The Conference was opened by the 
President of the United States. Carnegie Hall was 
packed day and night by an eager and enthusiastic 
throng. The majesty, the meaning, and the challenge 
of the foreign missionary enterprise were set forth 
and realized as never before in the Christian centuries. 

At the close of this Conference Dr. Lambuth and 
two or three other friends, in prayer and conference 
in a hotel room, found that room transformed into 
another “upper room” where communication with 
another world was set up. It was borne in upon that 
little group that there should be held a similar Con¬ 
ference for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 
Such a thing had not then been attempted by a single 
denomination. Nevertheless they were “not dis¬ 
obedient unto the heavenly vision.” 

Accordingly, after the most careful preparation, 
the Conference that passed into history as the New 
Orleans Missionary Conference met in that city on 
April 24, 1901, and the Methodists of the South be¬ 
gan the new century by setting new standards and 
enforcing new ideals for her missionary task. In his 
introductory statement to the volume containing 


Beginning at Jerusalem 


111 


the history and addresses of the Conference, Dr. 
George B. Winton said: 

A new century lies before us as the Promised Land 
spread under the eyes of Israel. We have not passed 
this way before. We shall not pass this way again. But 
we needs must pass. We can neither remain where we 
are nor turn back. It will be well if all the tribes of 
our Israel awake to the fact that God is in advance of his 
Church. We have asked him for open doors, and the doors 
are off their hinges. To our prayer for more laborers he has 
replied with the host of Student Volunteers. We now are 
brought to the test. He has done His part—are we ready for 
ours? 

Dr. Lambuth addressed himself to arousing and 
mobilizing the Church for its world task. At the 
session of the General Conference in 1902 he was 
elected General Secretary, with Dr. Seth Ward as 
his assistant, who ably seconded his efforts for a 
quadrennium, when he was elected to the episcopacy. 

It was during this time that provision was made for 
the missionary enlistment and training of young 
people, as a step essential to the making of a Mission¬ 
ary Church. In order that the missionary leadership 
of the Annual Conferences might be unified and 
strengthened he secured the authorization by the 
General Conference for the employment of Confer¬ 
ence Missionary Secretaries. Annual meetings of 
these secretaries were held in which missionary in¬ 
telligence was increased and missionary enthusiasm 
was generated. 

The reaction of Dr. Lambuth’s thinking to this 
situation is striking. The purpose, plan, and program 
of the New Orleans Conference had been chiefly his. 
A glance at the subjects discussed reveals a breadth, 


112 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


catholicity, and daring that are admirable and pro¬ 
phetic. The title of the volume, “Missionary Issues 
of the Twentieth Century,” recording the proceed¬ 
ings, is an apt epitome of the contents. But he has 
left on record his own contibution in an address on 
the “History, Policy, and Outlook of the Foreign 
Missionary Work of the M. E. Church, South.” In 
this address he makes recommendations for the 
future; including an extension of the time of meeting 
of the Board to at least three days; an increase and 
reorganization of office force, and “an administrative 
equipment that would bring the administrative de¬ 
partment abreast of any business office in the coun¬ 
try”; a system of city missions and an educational 
campaign, or forward movement, to begin at once 
for the enlistment of every department and every 
Church and every member. The following paragraph 
is well worth quoting: 

The Church must provide twentieth-century equipment if 
she would grasp twentieth-century opportunity. The 
Illinois Central Railroad, with its central office in Chicago 
and its division headquarters in New Orleans, controls 5,000 
miles of track; we work in six great mission fields, two of 
which are larger than the United States. They show a pas¬ 
senger list of 16,000,000, while we have a population of 
50,000,000 within that portion of the fields we occupy. In 
the Illinois Central the one item of stationery amounts to 
$34,000 per annum, while we spend $4,000. The salaries of 
the officials of this road aggregate $157,000; ours only amount 
to $6,800. The sum total of the salaries of clerks and at¬ 
tendants of the railroad is $206,057 per year, while that of the 
Board of Missions is only $2,700. Their office expense and 
supplies amount to $102,000; ours is less than $20,000. In 
the New Orleans depot there are forty employees, while our 
central office in Nashville is supplied with but two clerks and 


Beginning at Jerusalem 


113 


one stenographer. The contrast becomes too painful to be 
carried further. Equipment for world evangelization in the 
light of such figures is reduced to an absurdity. Let the 
Church look the facts squarely in the face and provide means 
commensurate with the enterprise before us. I trust I may 
live to hear the click of fifty typewriters. 

Slow as the progress was, he did live to see this 
approximated and did hear the click of fifty type¬ 
writers. 

Other observations in this same address are worthy 
of note, as showing the trend of his thinking. He 
quotes with approval the following principles: 

1. A prominent place should be given to the larger and 
braver use of native Christian evangelists; apostolic precedents 
are centainly in favor of recruiting agents in the country 
which we seek to conquer. 

2. The substance of the teaching needs to be carefully 
watched. We are not sent to teach a moral system, an 
ecclesiastical system, a dogmatic system—not these, but the 
personal, living Christ, the Christ of the Gospels. In too 
many cases we have unconsciously Europeanized the face of 
Christ. 

3. The right men must be sent to preach to these people— 
the best, the ablest, and most broadly cultured men specially 
trained for the work. 

4: The ultimate purpose of our missions must not be to 
establish a new branch of this or that denomination, but to 
plant the seed of the kingdom in the soil and let it develop 
that form of Christianity best suited to the genius of the 
country in which it is planted. The great fundamentals, 
of course, must be safeguarded; but beyond these limits the 
utmost freedom of development, both in ritual and in ecclesias¬ 
tical order, should be allowed. 

These and other deliberate statements in this 
paper cannot fail to make the impression that the 
author has given serious thought to the question of 
8 


114 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


missionary policies and present-day conditions, 
and that he takes a wisely constructive and a sanely 
progressive view. He sees with the eyes of an apostle 
rather than those of an ecclesiastic, and is not held 
in bonds by traditions of a time unlike his own, nor 
by a conservatism that takes counsel of fear, but 
speaks in the larger terms of the kingdom, meant 
alike for all times and for all peoples. 

These principles were put to the test when the 
question arose of the union of the Methodist Churches 
in Japan into one. This movement resulted in the 
organization of the Japan Methodist Church in 1907 
by the union of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the 
Methodist Church of Canada, and the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, into one. This Church has 
neither the same articles of faith, the same ecclesi¬ 
astical order, nor the identical ritual of any one of the 
three; and yet, while it is Japanese, it is fundamental¬ 
ly Methodist. This Church has by its success justified 
the missionary principles herein quoted. Dr. Lam¬ 
buth was present when the first Bishop of Japan was 
elected, June 3, 1907—the first native Protestant 
bishop in all Asia. He says, “They voted for the 
man because it was their conviction that he had the 
qualities essential for the office,” and adds signifi¬ 
cantly:] “This was gratifying to us all, and that 
there was some emotion, but no excitement.” He 
ventures a confident prediction which has since been 
verified: “I am satisfied that from this hour the 
native Church will awake to new consciousness of its 
responsibility.” 

It was in this year, 1907, that the Layman’s Mis¬ 
sionary Movement sprang into being. Dr. Lambuth 


Beginning at Jerusalem 


115 


welcomed it as a harbinger of a greater day. It was 
to him like the coming of relief to a besieged city. 
During his absence in the Orient a preliminary meet- 
was called and met in Knoxville, Tenn. It was an 
able and enthusiastic body of laymen. From this 
meeting grew one held later in Chattanooga, which 
struck a high note of promise. There were not want¬ 
ing those who voiced their doubts and fears. He was 
not one of them. He endorsed to the utmost what 
had been done by his assistants in his absence and 
gave his whole-hearted sympathy and cooperation 
to the movement. It was never his habit to take 
counsel of his fears. A favorite expression of his was, 
“It ought to be done, and what ought to be done can 
be done.” It was his habit to be on the lookout for 
signs of providential leading. He stood ready to 
welcome the new and untried because he believed 
in answered prayer and in the continuous and living 
leadership of Jesus Christ. It was not to him a 
surprise that new and unheralded manifestations of 
divine power and wisdom should appear, and he was 
willing to accept them, even though the guise in 
which they appeared should be startling. He was 
ever willing to accept the terms of God’s gifts with¬ 
out haggling, and to subordinate his preconceptions 
and ideas of what was safe to the glorious assurance 
that “Christ was keeping watch above his own.” 

One of his long-cherished dreams was of a Church 
with a united missionary leadership. It was found 
that the missionary development in the Church had 
been left largely to the initiative and advocacy of 
individuals and groups, while the Church in its 
representative capacity took no constructive note of 


116 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


its total missionary responsibility. Sporadic and 
more or less detached movements, all good in them¬ 
selves, were working at the task, but there was little 
organic unity and in some cases either rivalry or con¬ 
fusion. Congregations were becoming bewildered by 
the multiplicity of organizations and the fragmentary 
approach to the people. To remedy this and deliver 
the united power of the Church on the great task, 
Dr. Lambuth advocated a readjustment in some way 
which would be a remedy. In the General Conference 
of 1906 a commission was appointed to consider the 
question. Their task proved to be a difficult one, 
even to the point of apparent impossibility. Never¬ 
theless, when the General Conference met it turned 
out that Dr. Lambuth had seen to it that a report 
was ready to be submitted to the commission, and 
this was in the end agreed to by all parties concerned 
and reported to the General Conference by the com¬ 
mission. It was one of his final acts as General 
Secretary to advocate the passage of this report, 
which was the culmination of a cherished hope, and 
set the Church in the way of an experiment in mis¬ 
sionary administration which had not been tried by 
another denomination, but which others are now 
following. This united organization has outlasted 
many vicissitudes and much effort at a break-up and 
realignment, and yet for four quadrenniums has 
continued to justify the wisdom of its advocates. 

To refer again to his interest in the home field, a 
glance at the annual reports will show that under his 
administration this section of the work received a full 
share of the limited funds at his disposal. While he 
was presenting the alternatives of calling home mi$- 


Beginning at Jerusalem 


117 


sionaries or cutting down their support, the yearly 
support to home areas received a full quota of the 
income. Indeed, if areas, populations, and re¬ 
ligious destitutions are considered, one could make 
a case against him of favoritism for his own land. 

During his incumbency as Secretary he made 
special provision for the care and extension of the 
Western work. Dr. C. F. Reid, who had been forced 
to come home from his work in Korea by failing 
health, was employed as a representative of the 
Board on the Pacific Coast. In this capacity he 
aided in extending, equipping, and conserving the 
struggling work there as zealously as he had done on 
the other side of the Pacific. 

In the General Conference of 1906, where Dr. 
Lambuth was reelected General Secretary of the 
Board, he asked for the election of an assistant whose 
work would be directed entirely to Home Missions. 
To this office Rev. John R. Nelson, of Texas, was elect¬ 
ed by the Board. At the same time W. W. Pinson, of 
the Louisville Conference, was elected assistant to the 
General Secretary. The setting apart of Home Mis¬ 
sions as the sole task of one assistant was a step in 
the direction of the organization of a coordinate 
Department of Home Missions which was done at 
the next General Conference. At the same time 
Rev. Ed. F. Cook was elected Secretary of the Board 
for the Young People’s Missionary Movement. 

The quadrennium from 1906 to 1910 was one of 
unusual significance. Progress had been made to¬ 
ward the development of a home mission policy. 
There had been progress in realizing the ideals and 
plans for a missionary Church. Education and pub- 


118 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


licity had been advanced. The income had in¬ 
creased. No new mission had been opened, but those 
already occupied had been strengthened, The Lay¬ 
men’s Missionary Movement and the Young People’s 
Missionary Department had prospered, the Japanese 
Methodist Church had passed its experimental stage; 
the cause of missions stood out conspicuously before 
the Church and had begun to make for itself a larger 
place in the hearts of the people. 

The chief difficulty during the first decade of the 
twentieth century had been the limited income. 
Whether due to the attention given to the payment 
of the old debt or because of financial conditions, the 
regular income declined, and two new missions had 
been added to the budget. This had brought about 
an indebtedness which was larger than the one which 
had been paid, and partly, no doubt, in consequence 
of the effort to pay the old one. The decline in 
income had been checked and an increase well begun, 
but not sufficient to overcome the deficit. Dr. Lam¬ 
buth was by nature a rigid economist. As a boy he 
trundled a wheelbarrow to save a quarter and worked 
in the fields to help with his support. Later he 
writes from school: “I have been here four months 
and have spent $3!” But he was not a rigid econo¬ 
mist in missions. He was willing to deny himself, 
but it was a great deal harder to deny the cause he 
loved. He was concerned, anxious to keep free of 
debt, but he was more concerned to keep pace with 
the growing responsibility. In his anxiety for the 
cause and in the swift movements of the hour, he 
did not realize the actual condition, and the con¬ 
ditions that inevitably brought it about. This much 


Beginning at Jerusalem 


119 


is certain: if debt is ever justifiable in missions, this 
was a time when it was a virtue. It would have been 
a crime to have failed to meet the challenge of those 
wondrous years. The walls went down before the 
prayers of a generation and all the world was open. 
The debt was a burden and not easy to pay, but it 
may well be doubted whether any investment ever 
paid the Church as big a dividend as did the making 
of that debt. Who would exchange the work done 
in Cuba and Korea for a mere balance sheet? True, 
debt is not to be coveted, true also that the returns 
would have been far greater had the Church paid in 
advance. But failing that, we may well rejoice that 
work was done by one whose passion and conviction 
broke over the barriers of financial caution and 
expressed more faith in his Church than she had in 
herself. Those two missions are now paying more 
1 actual money each year than the deficits amounted 
to in the lean years, to say nothing of the spiritual 
returns! 


CHAPTER IX 

BISHOP AND PATHFINDER 


“Unless above himself he can erect himself, 

How poor a thing is man!’/ 

—Samuel Daniel. 

It was almost a foregone conclusion that Dr. Lam- 
buth would be elected to the episcopacy by the 
General Conference of 1910. When the ballots were 
counted, that was what had happened. His election 
gave great satisfaction to the Church at large, and 
was recognized as a just recognition of his world-wide 
service. 

His first episcopal area included the Conferences 
of the far West, Brazil, and the proposed new mission 
in Africa. It will be agreed that this was a fair share 
of the earth’s surface for one bishop. No part of it 
was neglected, and with two visits to South America 
and two visits to the African Congo he was not 
long still and never idle during the quadrennium. 
The writer was a witness to his tireless diligence and 
alert attention to all the interests under his hand, and 
his keen search for new openings and quick recogni¬ 
tion of the call for new or revised policies. 

He soon impressed the Conferences with his un¬ 
selfish and brotherly spirit. His willingness to share 
their sacrifices and labors and his democratic spirit 
soon won them to his leadership. This spirit was 
carried into the cabinet and into the chair, so that 
the preachers were made to feel that he was just a 
( 120 ) 


Bishop and Pathfinder 121 

brother sent to help and guide. One presiding elder 
writes that the bishop attended one of his District 
Conferences and was urged to preside. The reply 
was: “No, this is your meeting, and you must preside 
and conduct the Conference in your own way.” 
In spite of vigorous protests, the bishop took his 
seat with the other preachers and delegates and sat 
through as one of the rank and file. During the dis¬ 
cussions a point of law was raised and the presiding 
elder asked the Bishop to decide it. This request 
was politely refused, and the elder thrown on his 
responsibility as chairman. At the close the Bishop 
assured the elder that he had decided correctly. The 
lesson of this incident is the impression it made on the 
minds of his brethren and the atmosphere it made for 
the future. 

In his presidency in the cabinet, where the delicate 
questions relating to appointments are considered, 
he maintained the same spirit. And yet we are told 
that it was not wholesome to try any combinations or 
indirections on him. Any such attempt revealed the 
iron under the glove. His opinions were held with a 
tolerant mind, hospitable to new light, but his settled 
convictions were another matter. “ In many respects 
he was the most quiet bishop I have ever known, but 
when one tried to put anything over on him he re¬ 
torted in language that burned its way to the core. 
I saw that twice in the cabinet. That done, it was 
all over with. When he thought a thing ought to be, 
he did it regardless of protest.” 

It is at this point that we find one of those para¬ 
doxes in character which has been referred to else¬ 
where. He drove ahead, when he got a clear goal 


122 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


before him, and “regardless of protest’* and some¬ 
times in ways not approved by his brethren. This 
subjected him to criticism at a point where one 
naturally least expects one of his nature to challenge 
criticism. As one, who of all people would have been 
the last to pronounce a harsh judgment, said: '‘He 
had a stubborn will; and when he made up his mind 
to do a thing, if he could not do it one way he would 
do it another.” Be this fault or virtue, it made his 
purposes hard to defeat and gave him a driving power 
and persevering patience that stood him and the 
cause in good stead in many a hard place, where a 
swift frontal attack would have been doomed to 
defeat. 

Whether it was because of the fact that there was 
too much in the episcopal office in the homeland that 
was merely conserving the status quo, or merely 
administrative, or whether, by virtue of his pioneer 
spirit, he was originally cut out for another line of 
service, it is true that his highest achievements were 
not in that field. He did good service there, but by 
no means his best. 

During his secretaryship it had not been possible, 
for lack of funds, to build churches as needed in any 
of the foreign fields. This was particularly true in 
Brazil, where the ideal of a church building had 
been set high by the Catholics. An effort had been 
made for several years to secure funds to build at 
least two great churches in Rio de Janeiro and Sao 
Paulo. These efforts had failed. With this need in 
view he took with him on his first visit to that field 
W. F. McMurry, then Secretary of the Board of 
Church Extension. An extensive survey was made 


Bishop and Pathfinder 


123 


with estimates, and a plan for securing funds worked 
out. But owing to the debt on the Board of Mis¬ 
sions, and especially an indebtedness of the Brazil 
Mission, the Boards were not able to carry out these 
plans in any comprehensive way at the time. But 
a few years later the Missionary Centenary made it 
possible to go even beyond the survey then made in 
equipping that mission with church buildings and 
translating the Scriptures into that language. 

Before the meeting of the General Conference of 
1910 the following resolution was adopted by the 
Board of Missions: 

Resolved: 1. That the Board of Missions should take im¬ 
mediate and definite steps toward the establishment of a 
mission in Africa. 

2. That we have received with pleasure the memorial of the 
Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society on the subject of open¬ 
ing a mission in Africa and pledging their cooperation. 

3. That we have heard with deep interest the offer of Prof. 
J. W. Gilbert for missionary work in Africa, the land of his 
forefathers. 

4. That our Secretaries be instructed to confer concerning 
the opening of a mission in Africa with a commission appointed 
by the last General Conference of the Colored M. E. Church 
on the subject of cooperation in missionary work. 

5. That we authorize one of our Secretaries to visit Africa 
to study the conditions there with reference to one or more 
eligible sites for missionary work; and that we authorize a 
“special” to secure the necessary fund to enterprise such a 
beginning of a mission in Africa. 

The Church was ready for the venture. As usual, 
there were no funds and the Bishop set about securing 
funds from friends who were interested in the enter¬ 
prise or, if not, were interested in anything the Bishop 
was interested in. These funds were received and all 


124 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


necessary arrangements made for the long journey, 
some account of which is to follow. 

The story of the first visit to Africa greatly stirred 
the heart of the Church. It caught with marked 
effect the imagination of the young. Volunteers for 
this most difficult and trying field were not wanting. 
In fact, it soon became the most popular of our 
fields. 

The young people of the Epworth League took it 
up as their field and rallied to its support throughout 
the Church. That organization assumed the entire 
cost. The Leagues of Texas provided a boat, to be 
used by the mission in travel and carriage into the far 
interior, where the Bishop had to walk some 750 
miles. 

One of the steps in preparation for this journey 
was to interest the Colored M. E. Church in the enter¬ 
prise. 

Bishop Lambuth believed that missions were 
fundamental to the vitality and spirituality of the 
Church of Christ. He felt strongly also that the 
Christian negroes of America owed it to their brethren 
in Africa to carry them the gospel, which had done so 
much for the black folks of this country. He be¬ 
lieved that many fine young people were being edu¬ 
cated in the schools who would be willing to go out 
as missionaries. In short, be believed that it would 
mean new life and new power for this Church, 
peculiarly the child of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, to share in this work. Accordingly 
he began a campaign among the leaders and churches 
of that denomination which met with instant and 
enthusiastic response. That it was not in the end 


Bishop and Pathfinder 


125 


found feasible to carry out this purpose of cooperation 
is to be regretted, for it seemed to promise much for 
the movement and was wisely i planned by both 
Churches concerned. The difficulties in the way of 
sending out representatives of the negro race in 
America to do missionary work in Africa have been 
many, and whatever they are haVe not been success¬ 
fully overcome. No doubt they will yet be overcome 
and this race, emancipated from paganism by con¬ 
tact with the white race, will yet wield a great 
power for the redemption of Africa. 

It was a providential outcome of this effort to com¬ 
bine the two Churches on this enterprise that John 
Wesley Gilbert, of Augusta, Ga., one of the really 
great representatives of the colored race in the South, 
was selected to accompany Bishop Lambuth on his 
first journey. There were at least two reasons for this 
selection. One was that a representative of the C. M. 
E. Church should share the journey. Another was 
the habit of Bishop Lambuth to contrive to 
have a companion on his long journeys. This was 
particularly true in his later years. He had Dr. J. 
T. Mangum, of the Alabama Conference, with him 
on his second visit to Africa; Dr. Selecman later ac¬ 
companied him to Europe in addition to Mr. G. C. 
Emmons as his secretary. Dr. R. E. Dickenson ac¬ 
companied him to the Orient in 1919, and Dr. F. S. 
Parker in 1921. His love of companionship in part 
is the explanation, and perhaps the underlying prin¬ 
ciple, that if “one can chase a thousand, two can 
put ten thousand to flight.” Did he remember that 
the Master sent them two and two? 

On his visit to Africa it would have been hard to 


126 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


have found a more suitable traveling companion than 
John Wesley Gilbert. 

Gilbert was a graduate of Paine College under 
George Williams Walker, one of the most devoted 
friends the negro ever had. He afterwards studied 
in Brown University and won in that university a 
scholarship which gave him a term in the study of 
Greek at the American School of Classics in Athens, 
Greece. He was a fine linguist. In the following 
letter Bishop Lambuth pays him a well-deserved 
tribute: 

Oakdale, Cal., February 19, 1918. 

Rjev. J. A. Martin, 

377 Monroe Street, Macon, Ga. 

My Dear Brother: I have read with growing interest from 
beginning to end the monograph sent me which contains a 
sketch of Prof. John W. Gilbert, and which is the genuine and 
affectionate tribute of respect upon the part of yourself and 
others who were associated with him, and most of whom, if not 
all, have been his students. 

Permit me to say that I indorse fully and heartily the ex¬ 
pressions of esteem contained therein. They do not go beyond 
the mark, but are well within the limits of substantial esti¬ 
mate and worthy commendation. I know John W. Gilbert as 
few men do. Perhaps no other white man, unless it was 
George Williams Walker, President of Paine College, has 
known him more intimately than myself. For sincerity of 
purpose, high character, and noble ideals, he has few equals 
and surely no superior. As a diligent student of Greek, 
French, and native African languages, he surpassed anything 
I met with upon our long journey on land and sea. He put 
not only his brain but his conscience into his work. It was 
masterful. 

Finding that he wrote French better than I could do it 
myself, I dictated my letters to the Belgian authorities and 
requested him to put them into the official language of the 
Congo and of Belgium. The work was §o well done that the 


127 


Bishop and Pathfinder 

Colonial Minister, upon my subsequent visit to Brussels, 
inquired who wrote the letters, and remarked that they were 
the most correct and elegantly expressed among those received 
at his office from one who was not a native of either France or 
Belgium. 

I trust that the life of my friend will not only be spared for 
many years of official service, but pray that he may be given 
the largest opportunities for service for which, in the provi¬ 
dence of God, he has been so well qualified. 

Cordially your brother, W. R. Lambuth. 

Writing to Dr. J. D. Hammond, then in charge of 
Paine College, Dr. Lambuth said : 

There is no more hopeful field than this, but it must be 
worked by skilled workmen—those who are well trained and 
grounded in the faith as it is in Jesus Christ. 

Such a workman we have in John Wesley Gilbert. If 
Paine College never turns out another man, all the expendi¬ 
ture of money and effort will not have been in vain. On the 
contrary, it will have been fully justified. He is diligent, 
painstaking, and consecrated. He has breadth, culture, and 
piety. He is a Christian at heart and in his daily life, and I 
have had ample opportunity of watching him under circum¬ 
stances which try men’s souls. It is a glorious legacy to the 
world left by George Walker—the life of this man now given 
unstintingly to the evangelization of Africa. I rejoice that we 
may assure ourselves of this being the first fruits of a long line 
of capable and reliable missionaries who shall extend the 
reach and influence of the college across the Dark Continent. 
In thanking God for the heroic, self-denying men and women 
who compose your faculty and who have a real share in what 
Paine has done for the C. M. E. Church, the South, and now 
for Africa, permit me to include your own devoted service so 
freely given together with that of Mrs. Hammond. The negro 
has no better friends, and I desire to add my sympathy and 
prayers to those offered by others, and the pledge of coopera¬ 
tion to the full extent of my ability. 

It will be impossible for us to reach home in time for the 
May Meetings and your commencement and meeting of your 


128 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


Board of Trustees. I personally request that you reelect 
Professor Gilbert to his chair with salary for another year, 
as we will be unable to open work here until 1913. It will 
take nine months after we leave the Congo to get a concession 
of land, since the application must go to Belgium and suffer 
all the delays incident to officialdom in Europe. There are 
also other reasons. I hope you therefore will see your way 
clear to make this recommendation to your Board. 

They traveled together and faced danger together. 
I have heard Gilbert say that in their journey into 
the interior he always went in front, so that his 
black breast might be the first to meet danger and 
to form a protection to his white friend. Gilbert 
was a gifted speaker. His speeches after their return 
thrilled his white audiences, who were always de¬ 
lighted to hear him. One of the amusing stories he 
used to tell was of an experience he and the Bishop 
had on a little fishing trip. They were quietly wait¬ 
ing for a bite when a short distance from their boat 
a noise attracted their attention, and behold, it was 
a huge hippo pushing his rugged features above the 
surface. Just as Gilbert was getting thoroughly 
nervous he heard a snort on the other side of the 
boat and turned to look down the throat of a hippo 
whose jaws looked like a pair of cow-catchers. Then, 
without the politeness to wait till the strangers in 
the boat were thoroughly composed, heads were 
thrust up all about them. It is needless to tell what 
they did. That they survived to tell the tale makes 
that plain. Gilbert said: “Some black folks want 
to have straight hair. I don’t. I have tried it. 
Every hair on my head was perfectly straight and 
able to stand alone. I don’t want to be white. I 







wm 


'■'mw. 




MaHN 


MmamMi 


■y'f 




■ 


■ •■ •> 










v a?®Xv/: ;>$ 

mmrnM 










mm 




PROF. JOHN WESLEY GILBERT 




































































; 















































































Bishop and Pathfinder 129 

know how it feels, for I was lily white for a few 
minutes. ,, 

They went first to Belgium. There they made all 
necessary arrangements with the government, and 
sailed from Antwerp for their trip across the Medi¬ 
terranean. 

They sighted land at Dakar on October 24, 1911. 
The Bishop writes: “Gilbert and I retired to our 
room and prayed that God would accept a rededica¬ 
tion of our lives upon this the threshold of the great 
African continent and of our new life work.” They 
went ashore at 4 p.m. There before them were the 
signs of Western civilization—the tricolor, coal from 
Cardiff, a steel cart, a railroad. Side by side were 
the symbols of paganism: babies and women covered 
and weighted with charms, an African dude with a 
red fez, a lady’s parasol, yellow slippers, and blue 
gown floating in the breeze. On one side of the 
street there was a negress with long slippers, a baby 
on her back, three strings of charms, ears with three 
rows of pendants, and hair plaited like a corn tassel. 
On the other side was her sister, just arrived from 
Paris with high-heeled shoes throwing her body 
forward, gown clinging to her limbs, rings on every 
finger, and a monkey from Madagascar on her 
shoulder. 

After a brief stop at Dakar they returned to the 
boat and were off again on their journey to the mouth 
of the Congo and then up the mighty river of mystery 
to Matadi, ninety miles away. 

Thus begins a journey replete with interest, beset 
with hardships, privations, and dangers. A diary 
carefully and faithfully kept is before me and offers 
9 


130 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


a most tempting bid for attention. However, in the 
nature of the case, it must occupy a minor place in 
this story and await its turn, with only a glimpse here 
and there. When it is printed it will prove a most 
interesting bit of missionary romance. 

If anything could satisfy the most enthusiastic 
pioneer and leave no more to be desired in that line, 
surely a trip far into the interior of the Belgian Congo 
would do it. It was this dream, cherished no one 
knows how long, that was now about to be realized. 
A letter from a Japanese friend informs me that in 
the early days in Japan W. R. Lambuth was deeply 
interested in everything connected with Africa, and 
had him read from the newspapers news from that 
dark land, and that he was especially interested in 
the life and work of David Livingstone and Henry M. 
Stanley. Doubtless he was being prepared for this 
great adventure even then. It was his way to hold on 
to an idea, once conceived, with a patience and per¬ 
sistence that sooner or later were rewarded. Without 
noise or haste or acclaim he kept these things in his 
heart. 


CHAPTER X 

FACING THE JUNGLE 

41 He beckoned me, and I assayed to go 
Where Sin and Crime, more sad than Want and Woe, 

Hold carnival, and Vice walks to and fro.” 

— Anonymous . 

Their faces were set toward the great Congo Basin, 
with the Congo Beige as their destination. That 
they were led in this direction was doubtless due to 
the fact that the way lay along the track of Stanley’s 
search for Livingstone and that it had so recently 
been the scene of what had come to be known as 
the “Belgian atrocities,” which had shocked the 
civilized world. In his own account of this journey 
Bishop Lambuth gives four reasons for undertaking 
it: 


1. Terrible and tragic need staring the world in the face. 

2. The peculiar relation of the Southern white man to the 
negro, whom he knows and appreciates, and with whom he is 
better able to work as a missionary than any other. 

3. The insistent invitation of the Southern Presbyterians 
for years, to come and labor by their sides in Africa, and the 
wonderful success of their mission. 

4. The command, “Go ye into all the world, and preach 
the gospel to every creature,” given two thousand years ago, 
but not yet carried out. 

In carrying out this purpose they sailed from New 
York to London, London to Antwerp, Antwerp to 
Matadi, the head of navigation on the Lower Congo, 
thence by rail to Stanley Pool. How different from 

( 131 ) 


132 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


the travels of Stanley, across this deadly zone on foot. 
Now the engineer and the advance guard of com¬ 
merce had followed the pioneer of the gospel and had 
unwittingly cast up a highway for other messengers 
of peace. From Stanley Pool by boat up the Congo 
(the longest river in the world, river of mysteries, 
of dangers and tragedies), up the Kasai (a tributary 
of the Congo), up the Lulua (a tributary of the Kasai) 
—thirty days, including ten days* wait at Stanley 
Pool, and they were at Luebo, the center of the 
Presbyterian work, on December 7, 1911. Equipped 
with tent, hammocks, provisions, salt, cloth, medicine 
chest, typewriters, etc., borne by sixty carriers, they 
set out on their tour of exploration. “Our pocket- 
books,” says the Bishop “consisted of sixteen sacks 
of salt and many bales of cloth, money being of no 
value in the remote interior. Our caravan stretched 
half a mile along the trail; Professor Gilbert at the 
head of the column and I bringing up the rear to 
prevent stragglers from running away or from falling 
into the hands of savages.” They crossed rivers, 
waded swamps, braved fevers, camped in cannibal 
villages, treated four hundred patients, met fifty 
chiefs, and visited 200 villages on this long journey 
of 750 miles. They were now at Wembo Nyama, in 
the heart of the Bate tela (native “Ate tela,” plural 
“Otetela”), whose big chief was at first a bit sus¬ 
picious and sullen. Then unexpectedly the light of 
a great joy broke on him. He had discovered in one 
of the carriers a long-lost friend whom he had not seen 
in almost twenty years. After that nothing was too 
good for them. The chief, a man of enormous 
proportions, took them to his own house, killed the 


Facing the Jungle 


133 


fatted goat, brought rice, fruit, and yams, and made 
them feel at home. 

Native food is not always so acceptable. The 
Bishop says: 

Professor Gilbert and I had chumbi, dried ants, palm worms, 
and fried caterpillars for our New Year’s dinner and, later on, 
more than one meal of goat and monkey meat. Chumbi takes 
the place of bread, dried ants are not so bad if one is hungry, 
and as for choice I would rather dine on tender monkey any 
day, after you get used to it, than on tough African goat. 
The latter and the grit in the rice largely explain how Living¬ 
stone lost so many of his teeth. Mango paste is excellent and 
makes a fine dessert if one’s cook does not lick the ladle too 
often while preparing it. [Was not that a “pretty dish to set 
before a bishop” for a New Year’s dinner?] You and my 
colleagues will realize the difficulties we have encountered 
when I add that Professor Gilbert and I have traveled on 
foot and by hammock 400 miles and have 350 more to go 
before we can reach a boat, and then in turn must steam 1,500 
miles before we can get in touch with the railway from Stanley 
Pool to Matadi, then about 300 miles by train and boat to 
Boma, the seat of government and administration, where 
application must finally be made for a concession of land for 
a mission compound. 

One can imagine that the dangers and hardships 
of the long journey through the jungle were as 
flower beds of ease as compared with the stern 
determination, reckless daring, and grim perseverance 
involved in the assault on that dainty menu for the 
first time, with the haunting memory of the “pies 
that mother used to make.” Yet food is surprisingly 
abundant—cereals, vegetables, chickens, eggs (is 
there a spot on earth that is not blessed by the faith¬ 
ful old hen?), sheep, goat, antelope, buffalo, besides 
fish, snails, ants, caterpillars, and palm worms. The 


134 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


ants are half an inch long; dried with a little salt, 
they are not so bad and resemble rancid bacon in 
taste. The caterpillars are broiled, dipped in oil, 
and swallowed headforemost. It has been said that 
the man who swallowed the first oyster was one of the 
world’s bravest. He must have lived in Africa! 

The humorous never escaped Bishop Lambuth. 
Laughter always lurked near his most serious moods. 
There was little play in his life as men count play— 
such as golf, tennis, and the like. One may doubt if 
he ever gave a thought to such things. But he could 
slip away from the tension and weariness into the 
sunny nook of humor and foil the thrust of care with 
wholesome laughter. This human element buoyed 
him, fed and refreshed his burdened spirit, and helped 
to keep him sane and sympathetic. He could not 
have been a fanatic nor a Pharisee. His sense of 
humor saved him and kept his feet on the ground. 

The author recalls his last journey with Bishop 
Lambuth across the Atlantic in 1919. It was in those 
days when the nerves of the world were still on edge. 
Those who had been in the midst of the terror and 
madness of the war, as he had, were trying to forget 
and to compose their shattered nerves. He was 
called on to lead a service in the cabin. I was more 
than delighted with the tact and insight he displayed. 
Instead of appealing to emotions already morbid and 
overwrought or to passions already inflamed over¬ 
much, he soothed, charmed, and amused his fellow 
passengers with stories of his travels, particularly 
African travels. It was the true missionary who 
carried in his heart such consideration and love of 
his neighbor that he could not allow his interest in 


Facing the Jungle 


135 


those brothers in the Dark Continent to make him 
forget the needs of his fellow travelers. 

In his African diary nothing seemed to escape 
his notice from the state of the weather or the health 
of a baby to the policies of the Belgian government, 
wireless telegraphy, imports, and routes of trade. 
It is interesting to note the pains and time taken to 
record details, statistics, facts, and even to sketch 
maps, villages, and trails in the midst of his endless 
travel and other activities. Before me as I write 
are two closely written pages of notes on palm oil, 
tobacco, official supplies, portable houses, mortality, 
peace, the French language, palaver over a stolen 
hat, the tsetse fly, and a walk to Stanley Pool at 
Leopoldsville. These pages were taken at random; 
and now that I have noted these, I turn a leaf and 
find that the next two pages would have served quite 
as well, for I count ten items on one of these pages: 
the Kasai country, the hippopotamus, Bamu Island, 
Dover Cliffs named by Stanley, Kallim Point, High 
Range, tsetse again, swiftness of the current, combs, 
and pillows, with sketches in addition. The notes are 
necessarily brief, but clear and to the point. 

Friday, November 10, he records: 

My birthday—57! The time is short and very precious. 
God help me to improve it. I thank him for the privilege of 
being in Africa. When a mere lad, I read the life of Robert 
Moffatt and the explorations of David Livingstone and desired 
to be a missionary in Africa. Upon returning to the United 
States in 1891, I offered the Board to come and open a mis¬ 
sion in or near the Upper Congo. The Board was not ready. 
In an interview with Henry M. Stanley I was confirmed in my 
views and strengthened in my purpose. He urged me and my 
Church to come; said the field was open and ripe, and that 


136 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


what was done should be done quickly. In 1890 I wrote an 
article from Japan on a mission in Africa which was published 
in the Daily Advocate of the St. Louis General Conference. The 
Church did not move then, nor when I offered. Debt and 
lack of conviction. 

How often have those closing words fallen like 
clods on the coffin of missionary hopes! 

At last I am here with J. W. Gilbert as my companion to 
study the field and report to the Board concerning a location 
for the mission it has determined to establish. I solemnly and 
deliberately—yea, joyfully—rededicate my life to my Master 
and Lord for service here or anywhere. My hand, my heart, 
and my all are his. May he guide and help in founding a mis¬ 
sion which shall save millions yet unborn! 

Let the reader remember that he had only recently 
been elevated to the highest office, sometimes called 
the highest honor, in the gift of his Church. Under 
all circumstances he might easily have considered 
himself in position to enjoy more comfort and a 
relaxation of those endless travels and toils of the 
past. Instead, he had accepted his new position as 
one calling him to additional sacrifice. The secret is 
found in the birthday reflections above quoted. 

These reflections recall to the writer two conversa¬ 
tions. One of these occurred several years before we 
were associated officially. We were enjoying one of 
those walks and heart-to-heart talks of which he 
was so fond. He opened his heart concerning certain 
plans for work in the future, and said in a tone vi¬ 
brant with the eagerness and urgency of an apostle: 
“ I must make haste to do the work before me. There 
are many things I want to accomplish, and whatever 
I do must be done in the next ten years.” It was 
more the manner, the dreams, and far horizons that 


Facing the Jungle 


137 


showed through, rather than the words, that made 
me come back again and again to these words in 
after years. Again, after two decades of service, 
and only a short time before his death, he said, as 
one revealing a deep, unsatisfied yearning: “It is 
by no means yet certain that I shall not end my days 
as a missionary in Africa.” It is an open secret that 
he was then contemplating resignation from the 
episcopacy. This was doubtless because he felt that 
there was a higher calling for him than that of the 
office he held. 

In a letter written from Bumba, Central Africa, to 
Miss Belle H. Bennett, on Sunday, December 24, 
1911, he says: 

Service is over and my heart is full. I must give expression 
to my thoughts, and to you especially, who have ever been in 
sympathy with this great work and one of the true friends 
whose absolute confidence I possess and to whom I can open 
my heart. Have you not been praying for me day by day for 
years? Was it not your conviction that I should accept this 
office? I hesitated long and prayed much lest a serious 
mistake in my case might be made by the Church. The 
voice of the Church should be the voice of God; but you know, 
and so do I, that even the Church may sometimes fail to dis¬ 
cern the will of God. 

This was no discount on the office, but an assertion 
of his personal sense of responsibility to a supreme 
commission. That there are men who can freely 
and gladly renounce comfort, ease, honor, and all 
personal advantage for the sake of a cause or an ideal, 
is the hope of the world. It is the curse and despair 
of the future that so few find anything big enough 
and sacred enough to die for. It is for those who have 


138 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


not counted their lives dear to themselves to have 
blazed the trail for all worth-while progress. 

The following letter is characteristic of the time 
and pains taken to write his friends and also of the 
thoroughness of his observations: 

Kafullmba, Kasai District, 
December 27, 1911. 

Mr. John R. Pepper, Memphis, Tenn. 

My Dear Brother: I do wish I could take a snapshot at this 
moment for your benefit and that of your Sunday school. 
The day is very cloudy and my kodak will not work in this 
light. But here goes to give you the best conception possible 
of the situation. 

At the closest estimate I have a great semicircle of two 
hundred children within ten feet of me gazing with all eyes—• 
and soul, too, for that matter—at me and my typewriter. 
You see I am writing under a big tree within fifteen feet of 
our tent, which has not been pitched over an hour. The 
audience is arranged in ranks, the youngest squatting on their 
haunches and the older in the rear lines, so they all can see. 
In clothing I must acknowledge that they are somewhat 
deficient, but one must remember that it is in the tropics and 
in the heart of the Dark Continent, for Professor Gilbert and 
I are over thirteen hundred miles from the sea. We made 
twenty miles this morning, which is a good march from six 
until twelve considering the amount of camp equipage we are 
obliged to carry for a six-hundred-mile tramp through an 
uncivilized country. The majority have a string around the 
waist with a cloth three inches wide hung over it to conceal 
their nakedness, but fully 75 are innocent of the string. Here 
is one little fellow with a brass bell tied to his waistband so 
that his mother can find him, I suspect, when he plays in the 
corn near by. The corn stands seven feet high at my back, 
with large, full ears. A little girl of five years has three brass 
rods on her left wrist, two blue beads on the waistband, and 
a hemp cord around the neck—the last with a charm in the 
shape of a shell. The shell is often used as a fetish. I saw one 
the other day fastened to a bundle of straw with twenty or 


Facing the Jungle 


m 


thirty arrows which had been shot into the bundle by the 
medicine man of the village. The prevailing religion is one of 
fear. They are haunted by spirits real or imaginary. Life is 
a burden, and the women especially become so weary of it 
that they frequently commit suicide. One was found a few 
mornings ago with her neck over a loop of palm fiber. She 
was dead and yet standing on her feet. Polygamy accounts for 
much of the jealousy and bitterness, and domestic slavery 
tells the rest of the story. I met a man this morning with a 
spear in one hand and a little musical instrument in the other 
driving two women to market with heavy loads on their heads. 
They had walked fifty miles. The story of the evangelist 
who is with me, and that of his wife, would thrill you—both 
were carried off as slaves during childhood as the result of 
raids upon their native villages by other tribes. 

Let me go back to the children. The straw shed or church 
in which they have Sunday school stands within thirty steps 
of our tent. It is about sixty feet long, thirty feet wide, and 
is held up by fifty poles rising from a dirt floor and supporting 
a roof made of the fronds of the raffia palm. The pulpit is 
made of clay banked up inside of a wattle of sticks. The chair 
for the preacher is curiously wrought out of bamboo uprights 
and cross pieces of the same material split and fastened on 
with withes made of palm fiber. They say these children 
can repeat the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord’s Prayer, the 
Ten Commandments, and at least twenty hymns. I am 
prepared to believe it, for I heard five hundred do so at 
Luebo and Ibanje, two stations of the Southern Presbyterian 
Church. More wonderful than this was what we saw and 
heard yesterday on our way here. . . . Pardon the inter¬ 
ruption. The chief of the village sent a goat as a present. 
Of course-, it must be accepted and a gift made in return. I will 
give him a piece of American drilling worth $1.50—enough to 
make his wife, or rather one of his wives, a dress. The goat 
we will share with our sixty men in our caravan, each having 
a small piece—a great treat to them. 

Yesterday we started about daylight. Before we left the 
village we had prayer with 120 who gathered at the blowing 
of the horn, the majority being children; about five miles out 
we were met bv a score of natives who shook hands with us 


140 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


and led us to a shed where 75 were seated on bare poles on the 
ground, shivering in the cold fog, for most of them had nothing 
on above the waist—men, women, and children. They had 
waited an hour for us. As we came up and stood at the 
entrance they began to sing, and without books, “Showers of 
Blessing.” Gilbert and I could hardly restrain our tears as 
we beheld them, naked, cold, and hungry, and with upturned 
faces, singing a song which was at once a revelation of their 
need and of the outpouring which we are praying for upon 
this long-neglected field—so long neglected that it would seem 
to have been forsaken of God and man. That God has for¬ 
saken them is not true. There is but one Protestant Church 
in all this Kasai and Sankuru River region—the Southern 
Presbyterian; but through an agency instituted by that 
Church there has come the beginning of a religious awakening 
which must result in bringing multitudes to a saving knowl¬ 
edge of Jesus Christ. 

Eight miles out we came to another village larger than the 
last. Here by the roadside we found a well-made shed which 
will accommodate three hundred. It was almost full. The 
chief was there to give us a handshake, though he himself is 
not a believer. Again we had a hymn, a prayer, and the Ten 
Commandments, after which I gave them a short talk through 
Dufanda, our head boy and interpreter. After telling them 
what Gilbert and I had come to Africa for, and how glad we 
were to see 200 by actual count gathered for morning prayer 
and to meet us, I told them in a simple way the difference 
between the kingdom of God and the rule of Satan. In the 
village in which we had spent the night a great outcry was 
heard because the cook while preparing breakfast had dis¬ 
covered a copper-colored snake coiled up in a bush within ten 
feet of him and ready to strike. His back was green, but his 
belly was yellow. This last was the sign of a poisonous 
viper, as they all knew. The fact, however, was concealed 
by the yellow being kept out of sight. Satan, I said, was like 
that snake. He kept himself and his nature out of sight until 
he was ready to strike his victim. That he got in his work was 
certain, for in that same village, as we were about to go to 
sleep, I was suddenly startled by the sound of blows, followed 
by the cries of a woman who rushed out of a hut near by and 


Facing the Jungle 


141 


ran into the high grass sobbing as though her heart would 
break. Satan had put it into the heart of a man to beat his 
wife, whom he should have loved and cared for. The kingdom 
of God was, on the contrary, a kingdom of right living, of 
peace, and of joy in the Holy Spirit whom the Father of us all 
had promised through Jesus Christ. The lesson went home, 
for I saw several men look significantly at one another and 
then at the women. Before we turned to go I asked them to 
pray that we might have the guidance of Nzambe (God) on 
our way, for we were going among cannibals and heathen 
who had never heard the gospel. They promised to remember 
us at six-o'clock prayer every morning, and then they came 
thronging around us to shake hands, I told Gilbert that we 
had gotten into a country of Methodists. After the entire 
crowd had bade us good-by, a leper came forward and stretched 
out his hand. I did not have the heart to refuse him the 
touch of sympathy, for it was all that I could give. O that I 
might have had the power to heal! But I offered him what 
was better—Jesus, the Bread of Life, the Balm of Gilead. . . . 

December 28, 1911. 

At four o'clock yesterday afternoon the log drum was 
beaten and 204 men, women, and children came to evening 
prayer. Not a few of the women left the fires they had kindled 
in front of their huts and ran to take part in the singing of the 
hymn and in the repetition of the Scripture they had learned 
from the evangelist and his wife, for few of the grown people 
have yet learned to read. After prayer Gilbert delighted the 
children by teaching them leapfrog and the larger ones bull¬ 
pen. He simply captured all hearts and the entire town, for 
all hands turned out. Even the chief forgot, for once, his 
dignity; he made some of his hangefs-on double up and tried 
the experiment of flying over their backs. The women were 
simply convulsed and I myself about collapsed at the delight 
of the old fellow when he discovered that he could “spring like 
a leopard." 

After supper I had the evangelist and his wife (our evangel¬ 
ist, Mudimbi) and our cook and two boys come to the tent 
for a half hour of devotional service in which I tried to strength¬ 
en their faith while they were reminded of the responsibility 


142 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


resting upon them to be faithful witnesses to the truth as it 
is in Jesus Christ. My heart burned within me as we prayed 
together and realized, Brother Gilbert and I, what a privilege 
had been bestowed upon us to engage in pioneering the way 
for our beloved Methodism in the regions beyond. We are 
passing through a country infested by leopards, venomous 
snakes, elephants, and buffaloes. We were warned by Dr. 
Morrison to be on the watch for the leopards, for they had been 
carrying off people from some of the villages in this section. 
But we went to bed and slept as peacefully in our tent as if 
we had been in Memphis. Thus far we have been wonder¬ 
fully preserved, not yet having a touch of the dreaded African 
fever, from which few escape. It is not necessarily fatal, but 
we are not anxious to go through an attack. On the contrary, 
we have been as well as in the United States. Personally I 
have not been so vigorous in years. I attribute it largely, 
under the blessings of God, to the inspiration of a great work, 
and to active exercise on the road, making as we do from fifteen 
to twenty miles a day. 

This morning 30 men, 24 women, 64 boys, and 50 girls 
gathered in the shed at 6:30 o'clock in the midst of a cold 
dense fog, for the usual morning prayer. So cold were some 
of the children that they crossed their arms over their little 
naked bodies to keep in the body heat. I had on my overcoat. 
They sang, under the leadership of the evangelist’s wife, 
“Crown Him Lord of All” and “From Greenland’s Icy 
Mountains”—the last sounded rather chilly, but the lusty 
singing overcame that impression. I could not see twenty 
feet outside of the shed, but my soul rejoiced within me at 
this great piece of evangelism wrought out by the Southern 
Presbyterian missionaries in twenty-one years. A mere hand¬ 
ful of white and colored workers had gathered about them, 
8,000 earnest Christians, and out of this number 300 teachers 
and evangelists who, while they themselves are under training, 
have daily under instruction over 50,000 children and 200,000 
grown people. What is more, this is capable of indefinite 
extension. The only limitation is the number and strength 
of the working force. Do you wonder that my soul is stirred 
when I think of this being carried on for nine days’ journey 
on foot in almost every direction from Luebo as the base or 


Facing the Jungle 


143 


center, and by laymen? Not one ordained preacher as yet, 
and two hundred of the force of three hundred self-support¬ 
ing! In other words, the villages, in addition to building the 
sheds for schoolhouses and churches, support these men by 
building them houses and supplying cassava for bread, palm 
oil, yams, chickens, eggs, ants, grasshoppers, and cater¬ 
pillars. 

What a challenge to the laymen of our Church! We have 
never fully utilized this great contingent at home. Here is an 
illustration of what can be done from the foreign field. These 
men are not preachers. They do not pretend to be. They are 
Christian school-teachers; they are expounders of the Word 
of God as they themselves have been taught; they organize 
cottage prayer meetings and establish and superintend 
Sunday schools. They know God. I have rarely heard such 
prayers. They have learned how to talk with God, and with a 
devoutness of spirit that is marvelous they are leading the 
people in the way of truth and right-living. The work of these 
men and that of their missionary leaders is rooted and ground¬ 
ed in faith and in prayer. Think of three hundred turning 
out every morning of the year to six-o’clock prayer meeting! 
Think of a semicircle of cottage prayer meetings at Luebo 
every Wednesday night extending for two miles. I heard the 
singing from a half a hundred different points while I was 
walking through the mission compound or campus on my way 
to conduct the missionary prayer service in English. Is there 
any wonder that we felt that night the presence of our Lord? 
I thank God for what I have seen and heard. The half had 
not been told me. 

It is true that Gilbert and I are going to a tribe many miles 
east of the Presbyterian work—the Batetelas. They are 
cannibals. But what of that? Theirs is the greater need. 
I have long yearned to preach the gospel in the region where 
the need is the greatest, and where no other messenger has 
gone. If we can lead the way, surely the Church can follow. 
It will be our first mission to savages. Hitherto we have 
worked among civilized peoples. Now we have the op¬ 
portunity to show whether or not we have the real missionary 
stuff in our Church. I believe we have. We must have men. 
They will be forthcoming. I have no doubt of that. Several 


144 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


have already promised me to come. We must have money. 
Our laymen have that. Some one will say that the Church is 
burdened and the mission treasury suffering from a deficit. 
Is the Church burdened for souls? That is the question I 
want answered first. Can a Church of two million Methodists 
hesitate at a miserable little deficit which can be wiped out in 
six weeks when the evangelization of a continent is trembling 
in the balance? It is unworthy of us to raise the cry of re¬ 
trenchment. Who of our number will dare beat a retreat? 
We do not know how to retreat. It takes a big enterprise to 
inspire a Church to do its best. This is the greatest enter¬ 
prise in which men can engage. It is denied the angels, who 
might be glad to take our place. They rejoice that the Son 
of God was counted worthy to go on his mission of redemption. 
Away with out fears! Let us have faith in God! 

Yours in His name, Walter R. Lambuth. 

The following letter, written to Dr. J. D. Ham¬ 
mond, President of Paine College, a little later, is 
equally interesting: 

Kasongo-Batetela, Central Africa, 
January 22, 1912. 

Rev. J. D. Hammond, D.D., Augusta, Ga. 

My Dear Doctor : I sit writing under a tree with Prof. J. W. 
Gilbert on the other side of the table. He is working on a 
translation by a native of the Epistle to the Romans into the 
Batetela language. A crowd of at least two hundred natives 
are around us curious to see the typewriter and anxious to 
catch every movement of hand or body. This is a large vil¬ 
lage of several hundred houses, has an approach in the shape 
of a great avenue seventy-five feet wide, and on each side of 
it a street full half as wide upon which the houses open. One 
peculiarity of this place is that all the houses face from the 
main street instead of toward it. This is for privacy, and 
yet their life is so public that every man and woman in the 
place knows what the others are doing. No privacy in Africa. 
Our coming was telegraphed by the boom of a big drum 
which can be heard twelve miles. Not an official of the State 
can stir without being heralded from one end of the country 


145 


Facing the Jungle 

to the other. This is one way the native avoids paying 
taxes. He takes to the forest in advance and the taxgatherer 
can find only old men and helpless women—'the able-bodied 
of the latter go also. This state of things grows largely out 
of the misgovernment in former years under King Leopold 
of infamous reputation. 

This part of the country is remarkable for its uplands, high 
hills, clear streams, fertile soil, and products such as corn, 
manioc, peanuts, yams, bananas, plantains, pineapples, and 
hill rice. The latter grows without irrigation. The forests 
are full of rubber, copal, cocoa, vanilla, and hardwoods, 
together with many medicinal plants little known to civiliza¬ 
tion, but effectively used by the natives. The people are the 
Batetela, the most intelligent, it is conceded by all, among the 
many tribes to be found in the Congo valley. This territory 
has been held open to us by the Presbyterians, who have a 
great work and who have shown us every courtesy, even to 
that of lending us an evangelist and carriers for this long and 
perilous trip. It is long, for we have had to walk and ride in 
the hammock three hundred miles and have four hundred 
more ahead of us. It is perilous because of wild beasts and 
wilder men. Elephants tear up the gardens within earshot of 
the villages, and leopards have not only been carrying off 
goats, but killing and dragging into the brush men and women. 
Then the people who stand gazing at me now are cannibals 
and prefer human flesh, it is said, to goat or dog meat. Several 
white men have been killed and eaten within one hundred 
miles of us. Still we have had no trouble and do not expect 
any. We are upon an errand of peace, and they know it. 
Otherwise they would not crowd around us. Then we did not 
come at our own charges. We came under the Great Com¬ 
mission, and to do the will of Him who sent us. Our daily 
prayer is not so much for personal protection as for wisdom 
and grace to do the things which are well pleasing in His 
sight—'yes, in the sight of Him whom having not seen we love. 

The natives did not forget nor fail in appreciation 
of the new message and messenger. 

10 


146 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


Here is a letter written to Bishop Lambuth by the 
wife of Mudimbi, one of the native evangelists: 

Lumbo, Africa, June 6, 1912. 

Mulunda Wongi-Kabengele : I send you many greetings. 
I hope you are well. It makes my heart very glad to write 
this letter. I write because my heart is very happy and be¬ 
cause I love you and my heart was overjoyed when your 
letter came to me here. I was greatly astonished because 
you left your great work for a little while and sat down to 
write to a person like me. Here we are praying for you day 
by day, and shall do till the day of your death. And another 
matter, we want God to choose missionaries to come here 
with his palaver who have love in their hearts just like you 
have. Mudimbi and all the children send you greetings. 
Our Jehovah (God) has given me another little son, and I beg 
you to pray to God for me that I may have wisdom to lead my 
children in the way of eternal life. 

I am your friend, Malendola. 

A letter written to Bishop Lambuth (Kabengele) 
by one of the native preachers: 

Lualaburg, January 15 ,1912. 

My Friend Kabengele, and Mutomba Nxiba : I am sending 
you greetings plenty, plenty. Are you with the strength of 
our God or not? I thank you very much because of your 
letter and the medicine which you sent. I am showing you 
about my wife Kasa; she was dead, but Jehovah, our God, 
helped my wife Kasa, the sickness is finished. I thank you 
because of this palaver in the name of Jesus Christ and the 
Holy Spirit. We are asking God to accompany you with His 
strength. Give Mudimbi and Difuanda each plenty of greet¬ 
ings. I am Abraham, Katembue. 

To have gotten these reactions and experiences and 
to bring them to the attention of an unawakened 
Church was well worth traveling 2,600 miles by 
boat and train and 1,500 on foot, through the jungles, 
in perils of wild animals and almost wilder men. 


CHAPTER XI 

BACK TO THE CONGO VALLEY 


“The end of the exploration is the beginning of the enter¬ 
prise.”— David Livingstone. 

On that first visit to Africa, in 1911, Dr. Lambuth 
and Dr. Gilbert had decided that in Wembo-Niama 
they had found the object of their search. They 
found a vigorous tribe of warriors 400,000 strong who 
had migrated westward from the Lualaba River, 
which had been partly explored by David Living¬ 
stone. These missionaries were attracted by these 
independent, self-respecting people, who had never 
been conquered except by the Belgians. The men are 
experts in hunting and building and the women are 
good agriculturists. The Bishop says that he found 
no native houses anywhere in Africa comparable to 
theirs. The main streets of their villages are over a 
hundred feet wide, are shaded, and usually kept 
clean. 

Bishop Lambuth had in his mind before going 
two main goals as related to location. One was to 
join the Southern Presbyterians in their great work 
in the Congo Beige, based on a long expectation and 
urgent invitation on the part of the Presbyterians. 
The other was to join a line of missions across Central 
Africa, which might serve to resist the steady march 
of the Mohammedans southward. Moslems, mer¬ 
chants from the Sudan, were swarming into Central 
Africa, bringing the Koran in one hand and their 


148 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


wares in the other. While the movement was largely 
commercial, it found a ready soil in which to sow the 
seeds of Moslem fanaticism. The Bishop was eager 
to help form a chain of Protestant missions to stay 
that movement. These conditions were fulfilled in 
the Batetela tribe and in their village, which is 
near the middle of the continent, as a beginning 
point and their big chief as a friend and ally. 

The first visit of the missionaries had made a most 
favorable impression. The chief had led Bishop 
Lambuth into the moonlight and exacted a promise 
that in the eighteenth moon the shadows of the chief 
and the Bishop would be side by side again. The 
chief said that he would be cutting notches in a 
stick, one for each moon until the eighteenth had 
been reached. And it came to pass that he was 
greatly disappointed when the Bishop failed to return 
at the appointed time, due to his being detained in 
South America. When he discovered that it would 
not be 1 possible for him to keep his promise, he con¬ 
trived to have a message sent from Luebo by four 
men, who walked a thousand miles to carry it, in¬ 
forming the chief of the unavoidable delay, and 
asking an extension of the time to twenty-four moons. 
This thoughtfulness was greatly appreciated and 
proved to be a means of further establishing Kab- 
engele, the Batetele name of the Bishop, in the 
confidence of the chief and his tribe. The chief 
said: “It is well. The white man keeps his word.” 

The messengers were loaded with presents of food 
and each with a piece of cloth. The chief gave them 
his spear and said: “Present this to Kabengele as a 
guarantee of protection when he comes with his 


Back to the Congo Valley 


149 


people.” This was a spear with which he had killed 
a number of people, whose flesh he had eaten. The 
Bishop arrived, with eight missionaries, one day 
before the twenty-fourth moon, and was welcomed 
by the chief and entertained the first night in his 
own house. When writing later of his return to 
Wembo-Niama the second time, he says: 

When I returned to the heart of Africa after an absence of 
two years, I took with me three missionary families—Dr. 
and Mrs. Mumpower, Mr. and Mrs. Stockwell, Mr. and Mrs. 
Bush, and little Mary Elizabeth Mumpower, a babe in arms. 
The great chief of Wembo-Niama, who had been cutting 
notches on a stick, one notch for each moon, reached the 
twenty-fourth one the day after our arrival, which rounded 
out the two years. He was smiling all over his great face 
when he grasped my hand said, “Moyo” (life). This is the 
salutation one meets with in the midst of darkness and of 
death, and it is most significant. This fierce chief has killed 
twenty-seven white men and is the leader of a cannibal tribe. 
But he has been true to his promise, having fed our people and 
helped them in their work; he has also given up his charms and 
shown that he is sincere. We are praying that his heart 
may be touched and his life be yielded to Jesus Christ. 

This chief was steadfast in his friendship and un¬ 
shaken in his childlike confidence in his friend 
Kabengele. He was generous to the missionaries, 
as indicated above. Nevertheless, that generosity 
was not entirely without certain expectations that his 
generosity would not be forgotten, as the following 
letter will indicate: 


Mibangum le 9-4-20. 

My Friend Kabengele: Let your Chief of America send me 
things—a water pitcher and dishes and pans and cups, all 
very good ones. The Chief of America, let him send the things 
I like and, too, the things wanted here by the Batetela. Let 


150 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


him send me a letter through his children here. Bush and all 
others of his children (people) to come here and I want many 
of his children to come here. Then, too, I want him to send 
me a coat, good to dress up in, and shoes and pants and a bed. 
Why do you not send me things here? My friend Kabengele, 
come over here quickly to see the village. Owanji of America 
and Kabengele, many greetings. Dr. [M.] and Mama Kate 
[Mrs. M.J, send me a pants. Mama Kate, many greetings to 
you and to your husband from me. 

Chief Wembo-Niama. 

This was written by one of his wives in Batetela, 
and translated by Rev. H. P. Anker, who writes 
Bishop Lambuth: 

The above is a hasty translation of Chief Wembo-Niama’s 
letter. It is partly to you and partly to President Wilson, and 
is written by one of his wives. The chief was greatly disap¬ 
pointed that you did not come to Africa last year and also 
that you did not send him a big present by Mr. Bush. He 
was so disappointed that I went to a big shoe store in Chicago 
a few days ago and bought him a pair of shoes, very wide and 
size 12. Before we go back we ought to get some articles of 
clothing for the chief and let me take them back, giving them 
to him for you. He will be tickled for months, and it is worth 
while to the Mission to have him friendly. 

In a letter to one of the missionaries Bishop Lam¬ 
buth says: 

I met a colored woman this morning who is very much 
interested in Wembo-Niama. She proposes to send him two 
pairs of socks, which I assured her he very much needed, 
as he wore shoes which were much too large for him. Please 
give him a message for me and tell him I am expecting him to 
give his heart to the Lord. Say that many people here are 
praying for him by name and that we want him and his people 
to live the life of truth and uprightness. 

Nothing could be more beautiful than the fatherly 


151 


Back to the Congo Valley 

solicitude and tender concern for the missionaries 
and natives by the Bishop, unless it is the affection 
and trust they gave him in return. He seemed to 
have poured out the richest treasures of his great 
heart for the healing of the open “sore of the world.” 
The miseries, the tragedies, the terrors of these naked, 
black people of the jungle drew heavily on his 
sympathies. The missionaries who so promptly 
answered his call and so heroically braved the dangers 
and endured the hardships were to him as his own 
children. Well did he exclaim while in Africa: 
“China was my first love, but Africa is my last 
responsibility”—but Africa was more than a re¬ 
sponsibility; her salvation was a passion! Following 
are extracts from tvpical letters to some of the mis¬ 
sionary families: 

My Dear John and Mary Lou: I fear I seem like a neglectful 
father and grandfather, as it has been so long since I wrote 
you, but perhaps you are so absorbed in little Walter Lam- 
buth and your many duties that you have not noticed my 
delinquency. It is not lack of interest, I assure you, but 
Cole Lectures and many matters calling for immediate 
attention in the six Western Conferences assigned me. 

Thank you so much for the photos of my namesake and 
for the one more recently received through Mr. Mayo. What 
a strong young fellow he seems to be—certainly one of whom 
we may all be proud. He looks as if he might be at least 
six months old from the way he holds up his head and feet 
in that unusual position which he has taken. Let me again 
express my joy that he has come to bless your home and to 
give you a new and increasing interest from day to day. 

Your letter of April 3, with copy of letters to the home- 
folk, No. 37, received and much enjoyed. I congratulate 
you upon your success with the sweet potatoes and know that 
the natives as well as the missionaries are glad to have this 
superior variety. By the way, I heard years ago that the 


152 


Walter Russell Lambuih 


reason negroes in America are so fond of sweet potatoes and 
watermelons is because they were said to grow wild in Africa 
and had been the food for so many years of their remote an¬ 
cestors. That reminds me of a joke I heard recently from an 
ex-Senator from Kansas. He was walking down the street 
in Washington City and saw a colored acquaintance with his 
face buried in a big slice of watermelon, enjoying it to the full 
and with the juice dripping from every finger. The following 
conversation took place: “Rastus, how does all that good 
juice get into that watermelon?" “Don't you know, boss? 
you a Senator and don’t know dat?" Said the Senator: “No, 
and if you do, I would like for you to tell me." “Why, boss, 
it’s kase dey plants ’em in de spring.’’ 

Again he writes: 

I should have written you from Lake Charles, where I 
spent Sunday with Mr. and Mrs. Mayo; but what with speak¬ 
ing four times that day, after arriving on the morning train, 
and with the precious hours of talk and conference with them 
about the things which concern your life and work, it was 
literally impossible. The next morning at an early hour I 
was on the train for Houston, Tex., where another busy day 
was spent, and on the train that night again for Dallas, with 
five addresses; and then for Chicago, where two days were 
spent with Dr. Cook, Mr. Willis, and Brother Bush at 
Montgomery Ward and Company’s. Then came the trip 
across the continent. I have been in a whirl of engagements 
and local correspondence. To-morrow morning I am off 
for San Francisco to hold two District Conferences—one for 
the Koreans and the other for the Japanese. All this only 
by way of explanation to show you how full my hands have 
been. Rest assured that you and Dr. and Mrs. Mumpower 
have not been out of my mind for a single day. Frequently, 
many times a day my thoughts and prayers run out toward 
Africa and the mission station. 

To go back to Lake Charles, I enjoyed every hour and 
every minute, if they did keep me speaking a good deal of the 
time. What a fine breakfast after the night on the train! 
I told Mrs. Mayo, as I sampled the biscuit and the coffee, 
that I thought of you both at once and wished you and Walter 


Back to the Congo Valley 


153 


L. were there to complete the circle. You see when I left 
Wembo-Niama I promised myself to think of you every time 
I had something good to eat—real Southern, home eating. 
There were kind invitations for me to have meals elsewhere, 
but they were thoughtful enough to arrange for me to stay 
at home. It made the day quieter and more restful and 
enabled us between the services to review the past two years 
and to make some forecast for the year to come. Many 
questions were asked me, the answers to which helped to 
throw light upon some phases of life in Africa which they did 
not understand. Keep the letters up. The more you go into 
details of the daily life and customs of the people, the more 
vivid the conception and the more intense the interest. I 
notice you are beginning to touch the folklore. You should 
be able to get some very original stories through the boys, and 
in addition make a collection of proverbs, in which the 
African language is very rich. These, gathered with some 
system as well as care during these early years, will furnish 
a body of information one of these days which, to those who 
follow you, will furnish a valuable insight into the character 
of the people. Nothing is too trivial and nothing should be 
overlooked. It is in the common place of every day's doings 
among a primitive people that the roots of their faith and 
community, as well as individual, life is found. 

In leaving the home I felt that it was next to seeing you 
both again. Every nook and corner was, of course, familiar 
to you. The dining room spoke eloquently of the little circle 
which used to gather around the board, and the office and 
library combined suggested the many hours spent there in 
active service. How thankful we should be for the homes 
which Christ has made possible in this world! Aside from the 
social life and warmth there are the altar about which the 
family gathers and the suggestions of the larger ministries. 
In reading the life of Bishop Asbury, I have been impressed 
with the home as a factor in building up Methodism in this 
country. Long before churches were built, the homes of the 
pioneers were thrown open to religious services, the gospel 
preached, and the forces generated which helped to found a 
great civilization. It is with a feeling of profound thankful¬ 
ness that I find many centers of such inspiration and blessing 


154 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


in my journeys. May this ever be a unit, full of potentiality, 
kept in view steadily as you create a Christian community 
about you. It must be line upon line, precept upon precept, 
here a little, there a little; but if Africa is to be won for Christ 
it must be done through the native men and women, who not 
only enthrone Jesus in their hearts, but give him the central 
and supreme place in their domestic life. 

With love to both of you and a great deal to Walter Lam¬ 
buth, and with earnest prayers for blessings upon each of you, 
I am, 

Yours very cordially, W. R. L. 

On this second trip to Africa, in 1913, he and his 
party of missionaries, with Rev. J. T. Mangum as 
traveling companion, left London on November 5. 
His journal opens with a complete time table of 
arrivals and departures containing seventeen points. 
The journey was noticeably shorter than the first. 
This was due in part to the fact that they were able 
to go by boat from Lusambo, where before they went 
on foot. In order still further to shorten this distance, 
one of the first appeals made for the mission was for 
a boat for the navigation of the Kasai River. This 
would greatly facilitate transportation of supplies 
and render travel far simpler and safer. 

The Epworth Leagues of the Church undertook 
the task of providing this boat, and later took the 
entire support of the African Mission as their special 
responsibility. A missionary steamboat on the 
Kasai, lineal descendant of that first one on the 
Hudson, launched one hundred years earlier, with 
Bishop Asbury, the prophet of the long road, and 
McKendree, the flaming apostle of the wilderness, 
there to behold and wonder at the initial trip of this 
famous mother of all the leviathans of the deep! 


Back to the Congo Valley 


155 


How often the missionary must pause to thank God 
for men of science and invention, and to do honor 
to the pioneers of thought who, though unwittingly, 
have contributed so wondrously to the progress of 
the kingdom! As one thinks of Watt and Stephen¬ 
son, Morse and Marconi, Galileo and Columbus, with 
that noble company of men who have hewed and 
blasted and built, who have dared and suffered and 
died to bind the world into a neighborhood and pave 
the way for the apostles of Christ to turn it into a 
brotherhood, one can but think of them as obeying 
Isaiah’s voice in the wilderness, crying, “Prepare ye 
the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a 
highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, 
and every mountain and hill shall be made low; 
and the crooked shall be made straight, and the 
rough places plain; and the glory of the Lord shall 
be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for 
the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Is he not the 
Lord of the swinging pendulum, the falling apple, 
the bubbling teakettle, the magnetic needle, and 
the ethereal, electric pathways of the universe? 

Nine missionary societies are enumerated which 
had preceded ours in the Belgian Congo, beginning 
with the Baptist Missionary Society of England and 
the American Baptist Missionary Union in 1878; 
Swedish, 1885; Congo Balolo Mission (English) and 
Christian and Missionary Alliance, American, 1898; 
Southern Presbyterian, 1890; Foreign Christian Mis¬ 
sionary Society (American) and Westcott’s Inde¬ 
pendent Mission, 1896; Mennonite Missionary Al¬ 
liance, 1912. The unity of the Missionary Move¬ 
ment is emphasized not alone in the oft-repeated 


156 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


gratitude expressed for the beautiful and bountiful 
help afforded by the Presbyterian Mission, but by 
the constant recurrence of incidents and experiences 
illustrative of that principle announced by the Mas¬ 
ter that “one soweth and another reapeth.” 

Far down the Kasai River they were awakened on 
the morning of December 12 by the singing of 
“What a friend we have in Jesus.” It came from the 
throats of 58 black fellows who had cut wood the 
day before and slept on the bare ground with little 
to keep off the chill. The song ended and I saw 
every black head bowed while the leader stood there 
in the midst, barely outlined in the fog, making in¬ 
tercession, not for themselves alone, but pleading 
earnestly for Kabengele and his missionaries whom 
they were helping to convey to the Batetela country. 
Nor did they forget to mention Mutombo Kutchi 
(Gilbert). It is things like these that find us at the 
deepest depth of being. How can one help being 
attached to them in spite “of their many faults and 
weaknesses”? 

There is another side to the picture, alas! In 
addition to the cannibalism, cruelty, witchcraft, and 
demon worship of the natives, the drunkenness, 
debauchery, and dishonesty of white traders cry 
to heaven. They and others representing—or, shall 
I say, misrepresenting—the white races are guilty 
of conduct often disgusting to the point of nausea. 
Drinking in the Congo is pronounced a disgrace to 
civilization, and threatens the extermination of 
every successive generation of white men. A list 
given of men in responsible position to the number of 
ten, entailing delays, loss, danger, and sometimes 



CHIEF WEMBO-NIAMA MESSENGERS WHO CARRIED 

BISHOP LAMBUTH'S MES¬ 
SAGE TO THE CHIEF 




































































■ ' * ' X 































Back to the Congo Valley 


157 


death, makes a picture too sickening to print. Can 
we wonder that the white races are not loved and 
that the work of Western missionaries is woefully- 
hindered ! A single illustration will answer for hun¬ 
dreds. At Boshishimbe, a wood station on the river 
bank, there was a lone Portuguese rubber agent. 
Dr. Lambuth went ashore and had a long talk with 
him in Portuguese. He could speak neither French 
nor the native tongue. He had been there five 
months and at Luebo two, was a marine in the 
British Navy and was at the battle of Manila. He 
had visited all the East Coast, Colombo, Straits 
Settlement, Canton, Shanghai, Kobe, Yokohama, and 
the Island of Timour; is from the Portuguese Prov¬ 
ince; does not wish to return; has no books, no 
literature, probably cannot read; has no family ties 
at home save a mother and two brothers. This 
piece of human flotsam, cast up by the restless tides 
of fortune, cares for nothing, he said, except the franc, 
and here he twirled his finger and thumb significantly. 
“I tried,” says the Bishop, “to bring to him a mes¬ 
sage concerning God the Father, but doubt his 
understanding.” It is such as he that have helped 
the slave trade to Sao Thome and were guilty of 
atrocities in the rubber trade. 

The long journey, the planting of the mission, the 
good beginning of buildings, and leave-taking of 
the beloved missionaries over, the return journey 
was begun on February 13, 1914. The big chief 
insisted on going to the end of the village, some two 
miles, walking hand in hand with his friend Kaben- 
gele. Then looking around on his people, he said: 
“The white chief says he must go home. Be it so. 


158 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


He has many things to do. He can leave his people 
with me. They shall be my people, for I trust him 
[literally, I have accepted him]. He need not fear 
for them. When I have finished the church, my 
workmen shall go to your concession and help in the 
building of your houses there; and when all is done 
we will build a high, strong fence of cane and palm 
around the mission to protect your people from the 
leopards.” The Bishop thanked him for his words 
and said in response: “Wembo-Niama, you are a 
great chief and your words are strong. You have 
never yet deceived me nor failed to care for my chil¬ 
dren whom I leave behind. The heart of a truly great 
chief should be a good heart, and that can only be 
the gift of God. Give your heart to Jesus and he will 
make it good and strong.” Only when the story of 
this mission shall be written, years hence, will the 
true significance of these beginnings be seen. 


CHAPTER XII 
MEEKNESS IN ARMOR 


“He is brave whose tongue is silent 
Of the trophies of his word. 

He is great whose quiet bearing 
Marks his greatness well assured." 

—Edwin Arnold. 

In the year 1910 there was held in the city of 
Edinburgh, Scotland, an epoch-making meeting, 
of which it was said: “Never has there been such a 
gathering in the history of the kingdom of God on 
earth.” It was representative of all Protestant 
missionary bodies of Europe and America. This 
conference was the successor of the Ecumenical 
Missionary Conference held in New York in 1900. 
The preparations for this Edinburgh Conference were 
begun in 1907. Eight Commissions were appointed. 
Bishop Lambuth was vice chairman of Commission 
II., on “The Church in the Mission Field.” He 
entered with enthusiasm into the plans and did his 
full share toward the success of the Conference. I 
happen to know that in large part the excellent survey 
made by the Commission was due to his earnest and 
diligent efforts. It makes a volume of three hundred 
and eighty pages. In addition to his share in the 
preparation, he took active part in the Conference 
and at its close was made a member of the Continua¬ 
tion Committee, which carried forward the work of 
the Conference nfter its adjournment. 


( 159 ) 


160 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


This Conference set the principle of cooperation 
in the foreground of missionary policy. Not that 
there had not been cooperation before, but that it 
had not gotten into the thinking of the Church 
that the highest success of the cause demanded that 
the ranks should close up. Commission VIII. had 
for its subject “Cooperation and the Promotion of 
Unity.” The report of this Commission is still a 
classic on the subject. The spirit with which it was 
received and discussed and the action that followed 
set the subject fully and finally before the mind of 
Christendom. It voiced the insistent cry from the 
mission fields of the world against divisions and rival¬ 
ries that the natives could not understand nor the 
missonaries justify. It emphasized the waste in 
money, men, and influence, pointed to the possibilities 
of cooperation on grounds other than creedal or 
ecclesiastical, and urged that out of a deeper loyalty 
to Christ “we can agree to differ and resolve to love.” 
It was a feeling well-nigh universal among those 
present that in this Conference the Church had 
crossed over into a new era and that the old divisions 
and rivalries could not survive, but must yield 
to the new spirit and the new demands of the king¬ 
dom of Christ. Bishop Lambuth entered into this 
conviction. It was in accord with his catholic 
nature that he should. He was not of those who say, 
“My Church, right or wrong”; but rather, “My 
Church, if right to keep her right, if wrong to set her 
right.” No man served his Church with greater 
fidelity or with less narrowness. 

The subject of territorial delimitation had arisen 
in Korea during his secretaryship. He had entered 


Meekness in Armor 


161 


into it heartily. The same comity had met his 
approval in other fields. He was actually instru¬ 
mental in the organization of three Methodisms 
into one in Japan in 1907. In the consideration of the 
questions involved, he took the side of the risks of 
such a venture and sustained by his vote the free¬ 
dom and autonomy accorded the new Japanese 
Methodist Church. One of his last acts as General 
Secretary of the Board of Missions of his Church 
was to foster the joint ownership and control by the 
Canadian and Southern Methodist Boards of the 
Kwansei Gakuin in Kobe, Japan, an institution to 
whose founding and development he had given of his 
best a score of years earlier. 

He was a member of the Foreign Missions Confer- 
ference, was a member of the Committee of Refer¬ 
ence and Counsel in that body, was chosen Chairman 
of the Conference, and served on the Continuation 
Committee, representing the work in all fields and, 
in a sense, of all Protestant Mission Boards. In 
brief, he was connected with all those interdenomi¬ 
national movements so characteristic of the early 
years of this century, not only as a passive sym¬ 
pathizer, but as an enthusiastic participant and 
promoter. 

In a world such as we live in, it is inevitable that 
principles and ideals should be tested. All fine 
gold has felt the fire. There came a time when these 
ideals of cooperation were put to the test. It came 
in connection with Bishop Lambuth’s episcopal 
administration in Mexico, which began in 1914. 
There had arisen in the Foreign Missions Conference 
of that year the question of a readjustment of forces 
11 


162 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


and redistribution of territory in Mexico. This grew 
out of overcrowding in some sections of the country, 
entire lack of occupation of others, consequent waste 
of energy and of funds, and also limitation of results. 
Bishop Lambuth entered heartily into the plan. A 
meeting was held at Cincinnati on June 30-July 1, 
1914, composed of representatives of Boards having 
work in Mexico. Bishop Lambuth was elected 
Chairman of the meeting. An elaborate plan for 
redistribution of territory, involving exchange of 
institutions and churches, was drawn up for sub¬ 
mission to the various boards concerned. It was 
considered the most thoroughgoing, if not the most 
daring, venture in cooperation ever undertaken—so 
much so that it met with keen scrutiny and came in 
for a full measure of criticism. In the Mission 
Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
this opposition assumed somewhat aggravated pro¬ 
portions. It was carried into the press and finally 
to the General Conference of 1918. 

The result is a matter of history and is not in 
place here, except to say that the outcome has so 
well justified the wisdom of the “Plan” that now it 
would not be easy to find a critic even among 
the most radical conservatives. This matter is 
mentioned here, not only as an illustration of the 
breadth and catholicity of Bishop Lambuth, but as 
furnishing an illustration of another prominent 
trait in his many-sided character—that is, that in 
ecclesiastical affairs he was a pacifist. One would be 
almost as greatly surprised to hear that this quiet, 
courteous gentleman had engaged in a street brawl 
as to hear that he had engaged in a debate on the 


Meekness in Armor 


163 


mode of baptism or the validity of ecclesiastical orders. 
It may be said of him that “ he did not cry nor lift up 
his voice in the street.” As I have said elsewhere, his 
temperament was not that of the insurgent nor the 
iconoclast; he was not that type of militant Method¬ 
ist. It would be hard to recall a controversy in which 
he figured. I doubt if there is in existence a con¬ 
troversial line of which he is the author. I have 
known no man who could endure so much and be 
silent. He had the charity that suffereth long and is 
kind, and even when charity ceased to be a virtue 
he was able to summon a rare self-control that made 
no sign. 

All this proved true through some stormy con¬ 
troversies that swept the Church during the period 
of his leadership. In all these it was not generally 
known, except by his intimate friends, on which 
side he stood. The controversy concerning redis¬ 
tribution in Mexico raged directly, if not primarily, 
around his episcopal administration of that field. It 
went on for two years, culminating in the General 
Conference of 1918. Yet through it all he kept his 
poise and eliminated the personal equation so far as 
appeared on the surface. The writer recalls a con¬ 
versation between brethren in which it was urged 
on him that there was more involved in this con¬ 
troversy than the particular question under dis¬ 
cussion, and that he was in position as a recognized 
and influential leader to do a needed service for the 
Church of the future. It was urged, even, that he 
was providentially charged with a clear responsi¬ 
bility to enter upon a vigorous and open defense of 
his position. All of these things he waved aside as 


164 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


involving possible consequences we could not afford 
to risk. Later he was sorely challenged in another 
quarter on this subject and again at the General 
Conference, and yet his counsel was to avoid con¬ 
troversy. I have seen him put to the test in other 
cases with similar results. During fifteen years of 
intimate fellowship I knew but few cases in which he 
was openly and aggressively assertive, and these un¬ 
der circumstances that make them almost negligible. 

Those who knew him best were often taxed to 
account for this trait. He had deep convictions by 
which he was willing to live and for which he was 
willing to die. His reputation for tenacity and 
persistence was most pronounced. He had a mar¬ 
velous spirit of daring and took hazards that would 
have appalled a man less courageous. That he had 
any selfish aims or interests to guard is a contradic¬ 
tion of his entire life. For one thing, he had a calm 
assurance, born of an abiding faith, and was willing 
to “stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.” 
For another, controversy inevitably involves persons, 
and his love of men led him to be willing to suffer 
disadvantage rather than run the risk of wounding 
his fellows. Most of all he seemed to have a deep- 
seated feeling, if not a conviction, that controversy, 
oftener than otherwise, leaves truth the loser, no 
matter who wins. All of these, good and admirable 
as they are, may well be challenged as valid grounds 
for nonresistance. One may ask with John Hay: 

“How shall His vengeance be done? 

How when his purpose is clear? 

Must he come down from the throne? 

Hath he no instruments here?” 


Meekness in Armor 


165 


“Truth crushed to earth will rise again” as soon as 
she can find some champion who will level his lance 
at error, and right will prevail no sooner than knights 
can be found who will enter the lists wearing its 
colors. Nevertheless, both anvils and hammers are 
needed, and the anvils outwear the hammers. 

The deeper things of personality baffle; we can 
apply here no rule-of-thumb tests. In life’s won¬ 
drous complexities there are paradoxes and unfath¬ 
omable mysteries. In the life of this servant of God 
one seems to see the working of two contending 
heredities: one surging down out of the Scotch 
Highlands, the other flowing quietly out of the green 
meadows of England. The gentle, pacific father 
who came into the world to find out what was right 
and do it with uncomplaining serenity, and the 
mother who came to find out what was wrong and 
get it righted, whose sturdy family tree bore such 
branches as Gen. George B. McClellan and Grover 
Cleveland—these seemed to fight an unending battle 
for ascendency in his life. The one was ever saying, 
“Peace, peace,” and the other crying, “Strike for 
your altars and your fires.” There were days when 
the Scotch granite showed among the lilies and 
grasses. There were other days when only the lush 
meadows lay serene beneath the rapturous song of the 
lark. To know your man, you must know a lot of 
other people long dead. In this case, happily, both 
forces, meeting in our subject, swept on in the same 
direction toward the same great goal. The im¬ 
petuosity and insurgency of the mother and the 
meek and pacific persistence of the father united in 
an indomitable determination and unwearied in- 


166 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


dustry and a long-suffering patience that in the end 
found a way or made one. Let us therefore be 
content. If we turn from what he failed to say to 
what he actually did, we shall find the sources of his 
immense influence. He had by his gentle winsome¬ 
ness, unselfish devotion, and burning passion so 
won the love and confidence of the hosts of his Church 
that they looked to see which way he was going, 
rather than to listen to his challenge to combat; and 
when they saw, they felt that it was safe to follow. 
There is almost a conspicuous exception to the non¬ 
militant trait just discussed in an event that tran¬ 
spired in 1915. The Church was in the midst of a 
controversy that cost it the loss of its only university, 
Vanderbilt, located in Nashville, Tenn. He returned 
from his second trip to Africa just in time for the 
stormy session of the General Conference of 1914, 
in which final action was initiated. In this he took 
no part. 

During the year following he quietly challenged 
the disapproval of a large section of the Church— 
while the embers of controversy still smoldered and 
occasionally flamed anew—by delivering the Cole 
Lectures for the University. There were many 
who would not have dared it. Many felt that he 
should not have done it. Yet it went almost without 
adverse comment, except in quiet undertones. 
Walter Lambuth had done it. He was not rash nor 
.partisan. It must be all right. That was the way 
the incident passed. 

In that series of the Cole Lectures is one on 
“ Missions and the Heroic,” perhaps the best in the 
series. He had chosen as his main topic “Winning 


Meekness in Armor 


167 


the World for Christ,” and in this lecture on the 
heroic one who knew him intimately cannot fail 
to detect a portraiture of his own ideals. In de¬ 
scribing the heroism that dares to suffer, he says: 
“Heroic living like this is not for human ideas, but 
for divine ideas. Adherence to human ideas wins 
popular sympathy; adherence to divine ideas begets 
opposition, hate, persecution, and the sword. The 
motive is not a human affection, but a divine love, 
constraining, compelling, inspiring.” It was heroic 
living of which he was thinking, and not the clash 
of human ideas in the fury of human motive born of 
human affections. In another paragraph he says: 
“Heroism is anything but great acting. It is great¬ 
ness in action. There is nothing of the spectacular 
about it. Let self-consciousness come and heroism 
dies. It is high deeds, born of high feeling and high 
ideals and of unquestioning faith in God.” Well 
did he live the words here spoken. If in some wise we 
could have wished him different, it may be that that 
wish fulfilled would have made men love him less; 
and had we made him more our type of hero, it 
may be we should have condemned him to defeat 
where he won his greatest victories, and changed to 
common clay what God made fine! 

When the great war broke he was just back from 
Africa. “This crimson chorus of the guns” that 
shook the world was a new call on his already over¬ 
burdened spirit. It was unthinkable that he could 
live on the same planet where millions of his fellow 
beings were suffering and dying without lending 
a hand, both hands, to the amelioration of their 
sufferings or at least offering the comfort of a vol- 


168 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


untary share in them. It mattered not that they 
were not his own people. They were human beings, 
and when did he ever halt or even hesitate at the 
boundaries of race or clan? He gave his sympathy 
and support to such relief measures as were possible 
to the earliest stages of the titantic struggle. But 
it was when the United States entered the conflict 
that he threw himself into it with a full measure of 
devotion. In July, 1917, we find him writing to Dr. 
Frederick W. Lynch, New York: 

I confess to have very little sympathy with men who refuse 
to serve their country in great crises like this when they have 
for years accepted the privileges and protection which belong 
to citizenship. Personal privileges, whether in Church or 
State, involve personal obligation which must be met in some 
form or other. Of course I must recognize that there are 
those, even outside the Society of Friends, who have con¬ 
scientious objections to military service; but while this may 
be the case, I do not agree to the position that they are exempt 
from those duties which every true man and citizen owes to 
the State and to humanity. Such duties might well be in¬ 
cluded in “alternative service" under provision for “con¬ 
scientious objectors." This might easily embrace hospital 
service, Red Cross work, and various forms of service in the 
Y. M. C. A., which has been recognized and given a place by 
the government. A man who would persistently object to 
lending his hand to such forms of mercy and help when his 
fellow man has been caught between the upper and nether 
millstone of this awful world tragedy, is a captious objector, 
has not the spirit of the good Samaritan, and is hardly worthy 
of a standing in a Christian community. 


CHAPTER XIII 
SHARING THE TRENCHES 


“ He lives to bravely take his share of toil and stress, 

And for his weaker fellow’s sake makes every burden less.” 

—James Whitcomb Riley. 

When the great war broke out in 1914, Bishop 
Lambuth had just returned from his second visit to 
Africa. The Belgian government had been generous 
in dealing with him in the Congo Concession. This 
had won his gratitude. And when the crash of 
German guns had spread havoc in that fair land, and 
German terrorism had spread misery and suffering 
everywhere, he raised funds to aid the Queen in her 
noble work of relief. 

Among his papers I find a careful estimate of the 
purpose of the Kaiser and of plans for his final 
triumph over the entire Eastern world. This was 
based on an article in the Nineteenth Century , 
January, 1908, on “The Foreign Policy of William the 
Second.’' This analysis indicates not only his keen 
interest in world affairs, but also concern, even at 
that date, for the peace of the world, and a suspicion 
of Germany’s protestations of peaceable intentions. 

We find him writing to Africa in October, 1914: 

I have written repeatedly to Belgium without result. The 
German invasion has swept like a besom of destruction over 
that fair land. The Evangelistic Church must be suffering 
greatly. I made an appeal for $1,000 for the Belgian sufferers 
and have secured $1,700. Our people have been most sym¬ 
pathetic. I have sent foward $1,000 to the Queen, but will 

(169) 


170 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


hold several hundred for the Envagelistic Church if it is 
possible to get at the leader. Will make another attempt 
through the Belgian authorities in Washington City. 

Thus one man, at least, in the United States was 
not preserving a strict neutrality; and when the war 
was less than three months old he was already doing 
his bit to aid the suffering, without waiting for 
committees and movements to start him into action. 

Any one who will read his letters in the early 
days of the war will find abundant evidence that 
he was far from neutral. His scathing denunciation 
of the Kaiser and his program showed that his love 
of men had flamed white at the wrongs and injuries 
inflicted on men and women who are helpless to 
resist. It was my fortune to travel with him early 
in 1919 through the broken and desolated country, 
trench-scarred and shell-plowed. Literally thou¬ 
sands of skeletons of burned railway coaches and 
other thousands of trucks, autos, planes, and gun 
carriages were now grim and shapeless mountains of 
twisted scrap iron, bearing mute testimony to the 
physical waste of war, and the fresh graves and rude 
crosses “row on row” bore a still more gruesome 
testimony to the cruel waste of human life. We fell 
to discussing the war. How could we avoid it, with 
the red ruin of the monstrous anachronism before 
our eyes? The discussion included the armistice 
and its moral and political effect. To my surprise, 
the Bishop took the ground that the armistice came 
too soon—that the Allies should have given Germany 
a taste of her own medicine. In fact, in that com¬ 
pany of several bishops and other preachers, the 
verdict was overwhelmingly on that side. The 


Sharing the Trenches 


171 


discussion set me thinking of the surprising para¬ 
doxes of the human mind, when the most pacific 
man I ever knew wanted to hear the eloquence of 
battle thunder at the gates of Berlin. If almost any 
one of that group had been President, and in the 
mood he was in there and then, the United States 
would have gone into the war sooner and stayed in 
longer; yet there was not one of them, least of all 
the Bishop, who would not have braved danger or 
death itself to have helped a dying German soldier 
or to have given bread to a hungry Austrian in 
the trenches. 

Consistency has been called the virtue of fools; 
it is certainly not the virtue of men of faith and action. 
Such men are saint and soldier, advocate and judge, 
angel and avenger, according to the hour and the 
cause. At that very hour Bishop Lambuth was in 
Europe to serve, to soothe, and to heal. He had 
exchanged his episcopal robes for a soldier’s uniform 
and put himself under the direction of the Y. M. C. 
A. in order to share the perils of camp and field. 
He had gone where the smoke of battle hung heavy 
and the earth trembled with shock of gun and shell. 
He had washed his own clothes, shared the common 
fare, and taken his chances with the “doughboys” 
that he might keep them mindful of home and 
mother, God and country, and help make and keep 
them fit to live and die. 

It was not his way to require of others what he 
did not exact of himself. Accordingly, when war 
broke out he entered at once into plans for furnishing 
chaplains to training camps, and all other possible 
means of spiritual, intellectual, and physical care 


172 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


of the boys, suddenly snatched away from their 
homes to be schooled in the gentle art of killing. In 
this case, the stern and solemn call of President Wilson 
had been approved by the conscience of the nation on 
the basis of “war to end war.” Perhaps never before 
had the high ideals and eloquent words of a great 
leader so thrilled and rallied a great people, till in his 
own language they became a “nation of volunteers.” 
At the General Conference in 1918 Bishop Lambuth 
secured action constituting a War Commission. 
This Commission was splendidly organized and 
mobilized, with Bishop Lambuth as President and 
Dr. E. O. Watson as Secretary. An asking of 
$5,000,000 had been by his influence put in the 
Centenary Survey, then being laid before the Church, 
for work in camp and field and for reconstruction 
and evangelistic work in Europe, and steps were 
taken to realize on this in advance for immediate 
needs. To this and other forms of relief and service, 
Bishop Lambuth gave his unceasing attention. He 
was a member of the committee chosen by the 
Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America 
to provide for the religious and moral needs of the 
soldiers. 

All this was not enough to satisfy him. He 
volunteered to go out under the Y. M. C. A. In 
order to qualify for this service he must needs meet 
the ordinary tests. He did not altogether look the 
part of a soldier. Among the questions asked him 
was whether he could endure travel on foot. One 
can easily imagine the merry twinkle in his eye and 
the hint of a smile about his lips as he quietly 
replied: “Yes, I sometimes take a walk. My last 


Sharing the Trenches 


173 


one of any consequence was fifteen hundred miles.” 
During the silence that ensued we can only guess 
whether the young interrogator was recalling his 
Anabasis and calculating how many parasangs that 
stroll included, or thinking how many varieties of 
incompetent he was. At any rate, he signed on the 
dotted line. 

The following letter to Mrs. Lambuth tells the 
story of his journey over: 

Paris, France, December 4, 1918. 
Mrs. W. R. Lambuth, Oakdale, Calif. 

My Dearest Daisy: Now that the restrictions have been in 
large measure removed, I can write you about some things 
which happened in New York and on the way over. The 
greatest secrecy characterized every movement. We were 
not told the name of the steamer in which we were to embark, 
but were only given her number; nor did we know the date of 
sailing or the wharf until the last moment. Some of the sec¬ 
retaries were obliged to sail from Newport News, in Virginia. 
They had a trying time in securing anything like adequate 
accommodations. Some had to go steerage, which in a 
crowded transport is no fun. 

Before starting we were tagged with a number stamped 
on a little silver plate fastened to one’s wrist. My number 
was 236 and I am wearing my ornament to this day. The 
soldiers give it the euphonious name of “dog tag.” This was 
for identification in case of accident on land or sea, but I 
could not make out the advantage of it in case we went to the 
bottom. The wrist chain was steel, which began to rust and 
irritate the skin. The very last minute before going aboard 
we made a rush for a jeweler’s to get a silver chain. Emmons 
and I managed to buy one, which was cut in two and cost 
us $2.99 each—some price for three inces of chain; but we 
were shopping against time and the Jew knew it. 

We left the “Chelsea” early, but were detained on the wharf 
for three mortal hours waiting our turn to have our baggage 
examined. At last we were permitted to go on board without 


174 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


so much as producing a key. I left a lot of papers, notes, and 
some books which would have been helpful, but we had been 
told that they might all be confiscated. So much for the 
“know-it-alls.” Once on the ship, there was no possibility 
of return. No communication with the shore was permitted 
except through the censored letters, which to me seemed ab¬ 
solutely worthless, filled with mere commonplaces. Still I 
hope you got what I did send, though you have not men¬ 
tioned them, neither have you, any of you, referred to the 
photographs mailed from New York the last day. Perhaps 
they never reached you. There were three poses—I suppose 
that is the right word—all in uniform. 

For nearly 36 hours we lay alongside the dock on the New 
Jersey side, shut in by the great warehouses which made an 
impenetrable screen. Near by was the “Leviathan,” the 
old “Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse,” filling up with soldiers. 
Its capacity has been from 12,000 to 15,000. It must have 
made the war lord grind his teeth to know the use Uncle 
Sam was making of his crack ship. That surely was the irony 
of fate. The “Ordunia” was an infant compared with the 
other, but we managed somehow to pack eighteen hundred 
soldiers on board. They came on ferryboats from up the 
Hudson and were loaded to the guards. I felt nervous during 
my stay in New York when I saw this transfer going on, lest 
the submarines so active on the Atlantic coast at that time 
might sneak in and sink several of them. I have no idea how 
they were kept out, whether by nets or mines—perhaps by 
both. One thing is certain: we owe an immense debt of 
gratitude to our navy, always alert, always on the job. 

But the sight of those eighteen hundred boys on the wharf 
touched me deeply. They marched in solid columns of four; 
no martial strains, no banners, no military songs, in dead 
silence they came and stood by the hour, awaiting the word 
of command. Dead tired! You could see it in their faces 
and in the droop of the shoulders. Then at last began the 
slow and painful climb up the steep gang plank. One at a 
time they came, dragging their leaden feet, for, added to the 
heavy marching shoes, every soldier had a pack on his back 
which, including his kit, blankets, and helmet, weighed not 
less than sixty pounds—and over seventy with his gun. I 


Sharing the Trenches 


175 


could hardly restrain the tears at the trudge, trudge up that 
incline, every step slow and deliberately placed, lest a slip 
be made into the treacherous water below—mere boys, the 
majority of them, and facing pirates beneath the surface of 
the sea or the machine gun of a malicious enemy on the 
other shore. 

They filled up the space in the hold. Then the overflow 
converted itself into a living stream of khaki, which ran along 
and spread itself from stem to stern. Night fell, it began 
to rain a fine drizzle, and I went up to see how the lads were 
getting on. Here they were stretched out on the hard deck, 
lying on one blanket and shivering under the other. Some 
were getting wet up to their knees from the driving rain; 
but the captain soon had awnings stretched over the ship’s 
side, which in a measure shielded them. A lot of those 
boys were from Alabama and North Carolina; and when I 
thought of the homes they were from, the comforts they had 
left behind, and their mothers, I found a big pain tugging at 
my heart, for I knew that not a few would never return. 
It was a happy thing for them that the influenza had not 
begun. They did not seem to suffer particularly from the 
exposure. By this time they had become “as hard as nails,” 
as one put it, but they grumbled at the miserable fare. That 
was worse on the English ships than upon the American, 
and this was English. But it did seem awfully hard to have 
them lying there through the night, and the rest of us com¬ 
fortably housed in our staterooms. * 

When we got well out from the harbor on the afternoon of 
July 31 we discovered that we were in a convoy of some four¬ 
teen vessels, and had the protection of a cruiser and a destroy¬ 
er. These kept with, and a little ahead of, us during the entire 
voyage of twelve days. We will never know what we owed 
to those brave comrades of the American navy and their 
crews, and especially to the destroyer, which every once in a 
while would dart about and act as if it were purposely sticking 
its little steel nose into trouble—and there was enough, to be 
sure, between the floating mines and the submarines. Every 
vessel in the convoy adopted a zigzag course, changing almost 
every hour of the day and night. This was to confuse the 
subs and to divert their aim in case they attempted to torpedo 


176 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


us. I failed to state that we passed between two lines of 
destroyers for miles after leaving New York, had a great 
balloon swinging in mid-air watching for submaries, and were 
followed until a late hour that first night by several aeroplanes 
that were keeping close and vigilant observation as well. 
What more could have been done for our safety? Nothing 
but your prayers, and I know we had them, and they gave me 
a sense of security. 

It is mainly from his letters from the field that we 
gather some knowledge of the activities in which he 
was engaged. We find him writing to Churches 
concerning the baptism of soldiers, to mothers and 
fathers about their boys, and keeping his busy 
hands on all lines of helpful ministry that came with¬ 
in his reach. He writes to Dr. E. O. Watson from 
Paris on October 15, 1918: 

My Dear Doctor: I wrote you some days ago that the 
Religious Department of the Y. M. C. A. in Paris would 
furnish our chaplains with a communion set, a baby organ 
where needed, Testaments, song books, and quite a large 
and growing assortment of literature. In addition, I am 
trying to arrange for a lantern which can be used in hospital 
wards and in tents, so that men who cannot get out to the 
movies of the Y. M. C. A. can find in these slides and films a 
source of entertainment and instruction. They can also be 
utilized in evangelistic services. 

I have just returned from a two days’ visit to the chaplains’ 
school, where I found twenty under the instruction and super¬ 
intendency of Major Randolph. I spoke five times during 
my stay, and trust some real contribution was made to the 
splendid group of men gathered there. They were kind 
enough to say that I had helped them and I was given a cordial 
invitation to come again. My mission over here is primarily 
to the chaplains and their soldiers. It was a great privilege 
not only to speak to them, but to have fellowship with and to 
pray for them individually in several cases. The strain is 
terrific on these faithful men. Two had been gassed and were 


Sharing the Trenches 


177 


just recovering; two others had been struck with fragments 
of shells and were partially disabled. Last night one came 
with me who is suffering from rheumatism, due to exposure 
in the trenches. They have not hesitated to share the 
privations of the rank and file and will wear the scars for life. 
Two have yielded up their lives on the battle field. 

You do not wonder that I count it the privilege of my life 
to be here and to minister in every way possible to men who 
have not counted their lives dear unto themselves. I have 
been making a careful study of the entire field and its needs. 
It is so immense as it relates to the moral and religious 
welfare of two million men scattered over hundreds of square 
miles and billeted in thousands of villages in addition to the 
regular cantonment, that it cannot be grasped in a day, neither 
can wise conclusions be swiftly reached. My ideas are 
beginning to take shape, and it is becoming clear that as a 
Church we should align ourselves with the religious and edu¬ 
cational work of chaplains and Y. M. C. A. Secretaries, and 
with the relief work of the Red Cross. I have written an 
article to the Christian Advocate on the “Educational Pro¬ 
gram," and will be sending another on the “Religious Pro- 
• gram." The soldiers have been asking where the Church is; 
and it is of vital importance, if we are going to have any 
influence over these fellows when they return, to have a 
representative of the Church on the ground. At every 
service I have held (and they have been many) I have asked 
the boys to come forward and give me their hands, state the 
locality they are from, and what Church they belonged to, 
so that I might get in touch with the pastor. Several have 
proposed to enter the ministry or missionary work, and it is 
evident that we must look to these fine young men—the 
flower of our country—to fill our depleted colleges and to 
reenforce the attenuated line of missionaries in foreign fields. 

I have preached much to the negroes, advised with their 
chaplains and leaders, and endeavored at headquarters to 
insist upon more personal attention to the stevedores es¬ 
pecially. The latter are at the port unloading steamers and 
loading trains, building tracks, yards, roads, etc. The 
temptations to which they are exposed are simply fierce: 
wine and women, together with gambling and association 
12 


178 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


with the worst element to be encountered anywhere—the 
longshoremen and sailors’ boarding-house keepers. Our 
military authorities are doing all in their power, but still the 
evil exists, and those of us who know the negro and the South 
and the awful aftermath of such exposure, without adequate 
safeguards, must bestir ourselves to help our military leaders 
to the extent of our ability. 

Finding thousands of Chinese laborers from North and 
Central China, the dialects of which I speak, I have discovered 
another field of need and opportunity, and have been visiting 
their camps and distributing literature, especially the Scrip¬ 
tures. The latter I got from the British and Foreign Bible 
Society in London. 

My hands are busy and my heart is full. The opportunity 
of the centuries is before us. Are we alive to its demands and 
do we propose to meet it adequately? God help us. If we 
fail, ours will be a fearful condemnation as a Church. Our 
country is bending to the task. Can we do less? I ask the 
question in all seriousness. Major Randolph tells me that the 
Chaplains’ Committee, which through Bishop Brent is in 
constant touch with General Pershing, is calling for 600 
more chaplains, or 150 a month until the required quota has 
been received. Whole regiments are without ministerial 
services. I found 4,000 men in one case with only one chap¬ 
lain. I leave the situation for the present with you and the 
Commission. Give them my love as you meet them from 
time to time, and may you and they be given courage and 
strength for the great task which has been intrusted to your 
hands. You might send a copy of this letter to each member, 
that this outline of what I am attempting over here may be 
laid before them. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be 
with you and with the Church. 

Your brother in the gospel, W. R. L. 

In a letter from “Somewhere in France” he writes 
to a friend: 

The chaplain lives with the men, goes to the front, ministers 
to the wounded, offers the communion to the dying, buries 
the dead, writes to friends at home, and is in position to do 


Sharing the Trenches 


179 


for the soldier in the ranks what no other man can do. It 
is a precious privilege. One cannot help recalling such names 
in our Church in the sixties as Granbery, McFerrin, Sawrie, 
Marvin, Morrison, and a host of others equally active and 
heroic. Never have men been more approachable and open 
to the truth than in this war. Last Sunday I held a blessed 
communion service at 8 A.M., rode ten miles and preached at 
10:30, then twenty more miles and preached at night. There 
was no camouflage. It was straight from the shoulder—sin, 
repentance, salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. It was 
Jesus, Jesus, and he was there. O how the boys responded! 
Was there ever a greater mission than to these noble fellows? 

I cannot refrain from quoting an additional 
paragraph from this letter, because it deals with an 
important phase of the great war and also gives a 
glimpse of a trait of the writer: 

This Chaplains’ School which I was invited to visit by the 
Major (whom I had known and esteemed for his personal 
worth and for his work’s sake during his service in the 
Philippines, and later upon the Rio Grande and in Mexico) 
is unique in that it types the democratic spirit which is abroad 
in our land and in all the world, excepting, perhaps, the 
Central Powers. Here I find, in addition to Presbyterians, 
Baptists, Methodists, Disciples, and Episcopalians, Roman 
Catholics and Jews. The spirit and sense of a great brother¬ 
hood runs through it all, and out of this new and larger re¬ 
lationship must eventually grow a larger and truer life in 
which the minor things shall be lost sight of, and the real 
values, ethically and spiritually, will emerge. I am not dis¬ 
cussing organic union of any kind, but I am calling attention 
to the fact that God is becoming more real, men are more 
brotherly, and Christ is being given more and more his rightful 
place in discussing moral questions and in vital faith. 

There lies before me as I write the certificate of 
baptism of a young man whom he received into the 
Church in France. This certificate he forwarded to 


180 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


his pastor at Marcus Lindsey Church, Louisville, 
Ky. One can easily imagine the moist eyes and un¬ 
spoken gratitude of the congregation when that 
certificate was read, and particularly the unutterable 
joy of a mother to whose ears the sound of that good 
news from a far land was like the singing of the angels. 
In a letter from Korea in 1921 he writes an ex-soldier 
boy whom he had baptized in France: “Let me ex¬ 
press the wish that you are not only keeping in line 
with the vows taken on that occasion, but also that 
you are throwing yourself earnestly into such Chris¬ 
tian work as in the providence of God you may be 
able to do. I express the hope that one of these 
days we may meet again.” 

He took special pains, as already indicated, to visit 
and preach to the negro regiments, and always re¬ 
ceived^ a warm welcome. It was only in accord 
with his practice in America, in Africa, and every¬ 
where that he should not forget these American 
citizens of another color flying his flag in a foreign 
land. In the midst of a dark and dangerous hour for 
the colored people in the South, he was quick to take 
steps to prevent impending trouble. He called togeth¬ 
er leading negroes in the city and a few white men for 
a conference. The writer will never forget the illumi¬ 
nation of the whole race problem that came to him 
out of that meeting. Under the inspiration of a 
sympathetic atmosphere it was possible to get at the 
inmost thoughts of a people we thought we under¬ 
stood, and whom we thought understood us. For 
the first time I saw that the two races had drifted 
apart and a generation had come on the scene that 
did not, and in the nature of the case could not, know 


Sharing the Trenches 


181 


each other. Dr. Lambuth was making an honest 
effort to bridge this chasm of silence and suspicion. 

This concern for the colored soldiers did not cease 
when they returned to America. He did what he 
could to provide for them. His letters indicate how 
deep was his concern for them and his desire to help 
them in their readjustment. 

In the earlier part of this chapter reference was 
made to the fact that this writer was with him in 
Europe in 1919. It was on January 1, 1919, that a 
party of Methodists arrived in Bordeaux, France. 
They represented American Episcopal Methodism, 
then entering on the commemoration of a hundred 
years of missionary history. The year 1919, known 
as Centenary year, was to mark a new era in Meth¬ 
odist history. Representatives of the two Churches 
had sailed together that they might discover ways to 
become active moral and spiritual allies of the people 
to whom they had been such victorious military 
allies. America had fought with the avowed purpose 
of making the world safe for “democracy,” and the 
Churches from which these men came were bent on 
making “democracy safe for the world.” Each 
Church was represented by two bishops and one 
secretary. From the M. E. Church were Bishops 
W. F. Anderson and T. S. Henderson and Secretary 
Frank Mason North; from the M. E. Church, South, 
Bishops James Atkins and W. R. Lambuth and 
Secretary W. W. Pinson. 

As already indicated, Bishop Lambuth awaited 
us in France. We joined him in Paris. It would 
carry us too far afield to thread the ways by which 
we went through scenes of recent agony and death 


182 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


and of present ruin and grim devastation, of how we 
heard and almost lived the story of those days of 
terror, while the blood was scarcely yet dry on the 
torn fields; of the welcome, more than they gave to 
kings in those days, because we came from the land 
of Wilson and the brave ‘‘doughboys.” It is part, 
however, of the legitimate purpose of this story to 
speak of the study and planning for the great work 
for which we had gone over and in which the subject 
of the story played so important a part. This study 
involved a plan of cooperation in which the two 
Churches hoped to join forces in meeting a common 
responsibility to the war-stricken countries. In its 
broad outlines it was begun on shipboard. It was 
an ambitious plan and a most daring venture in 
cooperation. In Paris two other bishops joined us; 
Edwin H. Hughes, of the M. E. Church, and James 
Cannon, Jr., of the M. E. Church, South. Day and 
night, with growing enthusiasm and increasing 
hope, the work went on with at least two results: 
a fellowship and a unity of purpose which abides 
as an example of the beauty of brethren dwelling 
together in unity, and a policy and plan of coopera¬ 
tion that set a signboard far along the way on which, 
let us hope, we are headed. In all this Bishop Lam¬ 
buth was an enthusiastic and able participant. That 
this plan failed of adoption by the Boards concerned 
is no final proof of its unwisdom and certainly not 
of its lack of fine and far-reaching purpose. The 
result finally realized was a joint result after all. A 
division of territory took the place of cooperation 
in the same territory. 

I shall not forget the tenacity with which Bishop 


Sharing the Trenches 


183 


Lambuth clung to the desire that we should have 
work in France. Our brave boys had fought with the 
French poilus. There was at that time a sort of 
martyr’s halo about the brow of France. Her tragic 
sorrows, her ruins, and her graves appealed to the 
heart of America. Our Bishop Lambuth had been 
among them in the dark days and was a witness to 
their woes. His great heart went out to them and he 
wanted a chance to plead their cause before his 
Church. But if we went into France we must some¬ 
how go as one Methodism, it was thought. When 
it was found that the Boards did not agree on this 
plan of cooperation and a division of territory was 
substituted, which left to the M. E. Church, South, 
Belgium, Czecho-Slovakia, Poland, and Southern 
Russia, Bishop Lambuth was one of those who stood 
for a literal observance of the agreement and gave 
his support to a policy that would avoid misunder¬ 
standing or conflict. 

It was under his administration that the M. E. 
Church had turned over to us their mission and mem¬ 
bership in Brazil and withdrawn from the country. 
It was under his administration as secretary that an 
agreement was reached which gave the M. E. Church, 
South, the island of Cuba as its exclusive field in the 
West Indies, while the M. E. Church agreed to 
confine its labors to other of the islands. It was to 
be expected that Bishop Lambuth would sanction 
an agreement, reached after long and earnest con¬ 
sideration, which was in accord with the principles 
of comity and cooperation that had so long prevailed 
in the foreign mission work of the two Churches. 

It would not be fair to him nor do justice to the 


184 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


facts to leave the impression that Bishop Lambuth 
was indifferent to denominational rights and re¬ 
sponsibilities. It is true that he set the kingdom of 
Christ first, and believed that all Evangelical 
Churches should so combine their efforts as to “seek 
first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,” 
rather than each its own advantage. He was even 
willing to apply that large and rare principle of 
corporate sacrifice to his own Church, if the larger 
interests seemed to demand it. Nevertheless, he 
was watchful and jealous for the full and free exercise 
of the powers and resources of his own denomina¬ 
tion, and her unrestricted right to her providential 
opportunities. It is not amiss to say that in his later 
years this last phase of his character was more pro¬ 
nounced. Those nearest to him will recall the wistful 
note of sadness and regret with which he confessed 
to some disillusionment as to a speedy millennium of 
ecclesiastical peace and good will. It may have been 
due to the vast emotion and reactions that followed 
the war—the subtle suspicion that spread like a 
poison through society, and the recrudescence of 
the clan spirit whose corrosion spared no bonds, 
however sacred. We can only guess as to the source, 
but as to the fact we are not left to guess. No more 
are we left guessing at the fact that this did not go 
far enough to reduce the areas of his sympathies 
nor to weaken the grasp of his outstretched hand to 
all those who love our Lord Christ in sincerity. No 
passing shadow of time or circumstance could eclipse 
the warm glow of his catholicity. 

During the visit referred to we found that the 
Bishop had been busy already with forecasts for post- 


Sharing the Trenches 


185 


war work. One of those curious conjunctions of 
human events occurred which are not of men’s 
planning, and yet have wrapped up in them whole 
volumes of meaning. On the ship on which the 
writer sailed there were experts of various sorts going 
over to assist President Wilson and his coworkers in 
the Peace Conference. One of these was a Polish- 
American—or, to modernize and Americanize it, an 
American of Polish descent. He fell to talking of the 
condition of Poland and her desperate need. Though 
not a Christian by any means, he was intelligent and 
knew that the need of his beloved Poland was more 
than for the bread that perishes. He was eloquent 
in his plea that we American Christians should 
lend a hand to the land of Pulaski and Kosciusko. 
After we reached Paris this man contrived to bring 
our Church Commission into contact with one of 
the Polish representatives at the Peace Conference 
and our hearts were touched by his appeal for that 
struggling minority, the Protestants of Poland. 

At the same time we found that Bishop Lambuth 
had already become interested in Poland through a 
Y. M. C. A. Secretary who had been marooned in 
Teschen, Silesia, for the period of the war. He had 
become deeply interested in the possibilities of a 
new spiritual awakening in Poland, and particularly 
in a movement known as the “ Messianic Move¬ 
ment.” Some of us were permitted through Bishop 
Lambuth to meet this young man and discuss with 
him the situation in Poland. It was not possible 
at that time to get into that country. An effort was 
made to do so, but without success. A year later 
we visited a number of the Polish cities and opened 


186 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


work in Warsaw. Thus these converging lines of 
providential leading, beginning in far distant parts 
of the earth, met in the city of Paris and resulted in 
the beginning of a work that has been a blessing to 
many people and bids fair to make history for this 
suffering people. 

There is another noteworthy fact about this matter. 
The heart of Bishop Lambuth and the rest of us had 
been set on Russia and France as fields for spiritual 
ministry and service after the war. It was $ot found 
expedient for us to enter France for reasons already 
mentioned. It later proved to be still more inexpedi¬ 
ent to enter Russia, owing to the attitude of the 
Soviet government. Through Poland and her neigh¬ 
bor Czecho-Slovakia we were able to minister to a 
vigorous and accessible Slav population which is 
both kindred and contiguous to Russia, and where 
we are able to reach and minister to citizens of 
Russia. Need we doubt that the same spirit that 
guided the apostles in their missionary journeys 
was guiding to these points of contact that promise 
well for the kingdom of God ? Amid the distractions 
and excitements of war, Bishop Lambuth was not 
too absorbed in the immediate and near by to give 
attention to fields of service and means of minister¬ 
ing to deeper human need which would be waiting 
after the war. To a mind and heart thus opened 
and uplifted to the light the Lord is able to make 
known his ways. “The secret of the Lord is with 
them that fear him,” and the Master of all promised 
that “the Spirit will show you things to come.” 


CHAPTER XIV 

AMONG THE YELLOW FOLKS AGAIN 

“Then whatsoever wind doth blow 
My heart is glad to have it so; 

And blow it east or blow it west, 

The wind that blows—that wind is best.” 

Bishop Lambuth was appointed to the Orient 
in 1919. It was like going home. There was the 
land of his birth; there were the graves of his parents; 
there the missions he had served and the converts 
he had won and taught. It had been long contem¬ 
plated and was most fitting that he should have 
superintendence of these fields. To do this work he 
was compelled to leave a wife, who was deeply 
afflicted. It was with a heavy heart that he accepted 
this respons'bility, and when he left her it was seri¬ 
ously doubted if he would ever see her again on earth. 
Nevertheless, he went. 

It was a time of expansion and enlargement. The 
Centenary had just stirred the Church and her re¬ 
sponse had been in the terms of millions. Nothing 
like it had ever been known in the history of the 
Church. It was a new experience to have funds suf¬ 
ficient for the needs of the work and for reasonable 
expansion. The missionaries were as those that 
dream. “Their mouths were filled with laughter, 
and their tongues with singing: then said they among 
the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for 
them.” They replied, “The Lord hath done great 
things for us; whereof we are glad.” It was a great 

(187) 


188 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


joy to Bishop Lambuth to be able to indulge his 
passion for progress without serious limitations. The 
writer recalls the Bishop’s dialings and pleadings 
when he was in charge of Brazil, and could not find 
means with which to meet the crying needs. Now 
he was to go to the needy and great, wide-open 
Orient with an aroused Church and a well-filled 
treasury behind him. Those were great days for 
him. He could speak to Chinese and Japanese in 
their own tongue. He delighted the Chinese by 
preaching in that language. Everywhere he was 
welcomed with open arms. The name he bore was 
a password to the hearts of the people, and his own 
memory was still potent. 

Bishop Lambuth at once set about plans for 
extension. He planned for a great forward move¬ 
ment in Korea, and asked that Rev. W. G. Cram 
be sent out to lead in this advance. The services of 
Rev. R. S. Stewart were also secured for a revival cam¬ 
paign in Japan. Similar plans were laid for China. 
Great building plans were begun and properties 
secured in strategic centers. Missionaries who, for 
one cause or another, were at home were urged to 
return and new ones were sought and sent. A 
property was secured in the heart of Seoul, Korea, 
for a Woman’s Evangelistic Center, planned on a 
large scale. In the city of Shanghai a Church and 
institutional work were projected in a most compre¬ 
hensive and daring way. In Kobe, Japan, a great 
church, successor of one built by the Bishop when 
he was a missionary in Kobe in 1889, was begun. In 
a letter dated September 8, 1920, he writes from 
Hiroshima, Japan, in detail of these plans, with 


189 


Among the Yellow Folks Again 

particular emphasis on intensive evangelism and 
building. With characteristic foresight he says: 
“I am urging the policy of buying sites, but holding 
back building with the hope that we may save 
five or ten per cent.” 

On the matter of building he writes Bishop Mc- 
Murry before leaving for the Orient: 

I do not want to seem stubborn in my position, but I 
am responsible for three great separate fields that are in 
imperative need of aid; and, with the exception of China, I 
have put two of them at the lowest figures of the six. Two 
of the cities in which church buildings must be erected have 
a population of more than a million, and as you know, in 
Shanghai we have only one church building, and yet this is 
our oldest field and the headquarters of our Oriental work. 
I have said absolutely nothing in disparagement of any other 
field, for the needs are great in all, but we have come to the 
point in Kobe and in Shanghai where we must build or go out 
of business. It is a shame that the frame church which I 
put up in Kobe in 1889 still stands unimproved, out of date, 
and far short of the demands of the present congregation. 

Before leaving America the Bishop had secured 
action on the part of the Board of Missions authoriz¬ 
ing entrance into Siberia and Manchuria. The Board 
adopted the following resolution at its annual 
meeting in May, 1919, by a unanimous vote: 

Resolved , That in view of the conditions demanding our 
ministry in that section, we authorize the bishop in charge of 
Oriental fields to open work in Siberia. 

Dr. W. G. Cram and Rev. J. S. Ryang were di¬ 
rected by Bishop Lambuth to visit Siberia and 
Manchuria with a view to opening work at the most 
promising centers. The Korea Annual Conference 
at its meeting in September, 1919, adopted resold- 


190 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


tions supporting the Board and the Bishop in this 
venture and recommended the appointment of one 
of their preachers to that work. Dr. Cram and Mr. 
Ryang entered Siberia in February, 1920. The mis¬ 
sion to Poland was being projected and that would 
touch Russia on the west. The political and social 
conditions made mission work impossible in Russia 
proper; but Siberia was then withstanding the spread 
of Bolshevism, and it was possible to reach Russians 
from that quarter. It was a strategic move on his 
part to drive a wedge in from the east at the same 
time that we were approaching Russia from Poland 
on the west as far as conditions would permit. 
He went to the Orient with this clearly before his 
mind. This brought on a prolonged and complicated 
discussion with the Presbyterians and Methodist 
Episcopal brethren on the question of denominational 
comity and courtesy. The principle of territorial 
primacy, it was claimed, had been violated, and 
danger of rivalry and misunderstanding threatened. 
However, the spirit of fairness and brotherliness on 
both sides led to satisfactory adjustments. Much of 
the trouble grew out of the zeal and lack of under¬ 
standing of native workers. It took time, as such 
matters always do, and there were problems of 
comity to be straightened after the Bishop’s death. 
All of this was made easier by the fact that no one 
ever had the least suspicion of aggression or un¬ 
fairness on his part. 

During this visit the fourth session of the Gen¬ 
eral Conference of the Japan Methodist Church 
was held and Bishop Lambuth was present. It is 
not difficult to imagine his joy at seeing a full- 


Among the Yellow Folks Again 191 

fledged Church, in its chief legislative body, guard¬ 
ing, applying, and passing on those great ideals and 
doctrines to which he and his forefathers had given 
themselves. It was only thirty-three years since 
his father and mother and he had first set foot in 
Japan as missionaries. It is said that at that time 
the senior Lambuth had a servant who was a Chris¬ 
tian and a member of the Congregational Church. 
This dear old man would pray in family devotions, 
and always prayed, “Lord, bless good Dr. Lambuth 
and this Methodist Church which hasn’t got a 
member.” This could not have lasted very long, 
but it must have been a rather uncomfortable re¬ 
minder while it lasted. Now behold what God had 
wrought! A third of a century had again illustrated 
the truth that “One soweth and another reapeth.” 

An incident of this General Conference brought 
special gratification to his heart. In organizing 
the Japan Methodist Church there were some modi¬ 
fications of historic Methodist polity. One of these 
was the election of bishops for a term of four years, 
so that if they desired they could say at the end of 
four years, “You have served us well, and we will 
now grant you a well-earned rest from your episcopal 
labors.” The election this time fell on Rev. K. 
Usaki. He had gone to Bishop Lambuth to be 
taught when a boy fourteen years of age. His first 
lesson in English, he tells us, was from the Lord’s 
Prayer. What a wise and noble starting point! 
Was it according to the most approved pedagogy? 
Who cares? The pupil learned English and became 
acquainted with Christ. I heard him tell the story 
at the Virginia Conference, shortly after the Bishop’s 


192 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


death, in a tribute that was eloquent and tender. 
He said that after the election he did not see the 
Bishop, but found a brief note with a word of af¬ 
fectionate congratulation, and closing with: “I 
pray that a double portion of His spirit may be 
given you for your great responsibility/’ There was 
no reference to the personal honor and privilege; no 
word of compliment—only a prayerful and sympa¬ 
thetic reference to the responsibility and need of 
spiritual enduement. The young Japanese bishop 
was carrying that written message near to his heart 
and keeping its meaning warm and vital. 

During this visit there arose a somewhat trying 
situation in the China Mission. Two recent develop¬ 
ments had transpired affecting all the missionaries 
in China: the organization of the Bible Union and 
the proposal to hold a Christian Conference, rep¬ 
resenting all Christian denominations in China, 
with a view to securing such unity and agreement 
as would give force and effectiveness to the Christian 
ideals and teachings of an indigenous Christianity. 
Both these movements brought to the fore the dis¬ 
cussion of doctrinal questions. This discussion 
was not based on denominational lines or distinctions, 
but on those teachings supposed to be common to all 
denominations. The terms under which the dis¬ 
putants were ranged were those of Fundamentalist 
and Modernist. The whole matter was brought 
before the Mission meeting and an opportunity given 
for a full discussion of the question. 

The position of Bishop Lambuth in this matter 
is best given in a letter to Dr. E. H. Rawlings, then 
Foreign Secretary of the Board of Missions, dated 


193 


Among the Yellow Folks Again 

March 31, 1921. In this letter he says, after men¬ 
tioning two parties to the controversy: 

I heartily agree with both of these gentlemen concerning the 
necessity of our missionaries being sound in doctrine and in 
faith. There is nothing more important in our effort to 
establish the kingdom of God in the regions beyond. As 
regards this basic principle and position, I yield to none. In 
forty-four years of missionary effort, at home and abroad, 
I have been jealous for the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, and 
for faith in him as a personal Saviour and the only hope of the 
world. 

Having made this statement, I desire to affirm that I do 
not know of a missionary in our China Mission, rumors and 
hearsay to the contrary notwithstanding, who does not believe 
in the inspiration of the Scriptures, the divinity of Christ, his 
incarnation, death, and resurrection, and in the personality 
and witness of the Holy Spirit. There is not one who has not 
a vital faith, an experience of pardoned sin, and an acceptance 
with God through Jesus Christ. I am not speaking at random. 
If there is one, I am grievously mistaken. 

In the Mission Meeting to which Brother-refers in 

his letter, I tried to make it perfectly clear that if any of our 
missionaries, men or women, did not believe the things that 
are fundamental to salvation, and so held by our Church, or 
busied themselves in teaching or propagating that which is 
subversive of the faith of our native converts, they had no 
place among us, and should at once return to the homeland. 
On the other hand, I asserted that every man had a right to 
do his own thinking; that failure to think and a strict ad¬ 
herence to the forms of religion rather than to the substance 
and spirit would ultimately bring upon us the condemnation 
which came to Israel under Isaiah’s ministry. I then quoted 
John Wesley’s words, “Think and let think,” as coming from 
one who, while jealous for essentials, always claimed the right 
to do his own thinking. 

Prior to the meeting, Brother-handed me a copy of 

a letter which he had addressed to the members of the Board 
of Missions and the Lay Leaders of the Annual Conferences in 
the United States, and a printed circular drawn up at the 
13 




194 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


Killing summer resort by a group of missionaries not of our 
Mission. With his permission I read both to the Mission 
Meeting and commented upon them. In the matter of the 
letter, I felt that he had not treated the members of the Mis¬ 
sion fairly in that some of them were represented as unsound, 
this arraignment being sent to the United States, and yet 
they had not seen the letter, and were thus deprived of the 
opportunity for reply or defense. I took the ground that it 
was unfair and unjust, was calculated to prejudice them in 
the eyes of those who did not have all the facts, and might 
work a serious injury to the Mission itself. 

My objection to the printed circular, which emanated 
from a source outside our Mission, was not because it stood 
for the defense of sound doctrine. It was because Brother 

-was soliciting the signatures of our missionaries to a 

paper, one article of which requested that those who stood for 
the orthodox faith see to it that their representatives should 
be on a certain committee, or committees. This I took to be 
with reference to the approaching General Conference of all 
missionaries in China. It looked like an attempt to pack 
committees and smacked of the methods of the politician. 
If there were moral issues at stake, I wanted to see them dis¬ 
cussed and fought out on the floor of the Conference and not 
settled by caucus. 

I did not refer to it at the time, but I had another thing in 
mind as well. There is a large fund which was left by a 
gentleman in the United States to be applied to the promotion 
of Bible study in China. Some of the beneficiaries of the fund, 
if not the administrators themselves, are actively promoting 
the premillennial theory of the second coming of Christ. 
This activity centers in Ruling, a considerable sum having 
been expended the past year in meeting the expenses of 
missionaries and Chinese to these Ruling meetings. I have 

not called Brother-'s doctrinal view in question on 

this subject or any other. He was not there, and may or 
may not believe in premillennialism. I did not question his 
right to his own views, but I did object to his attempting to 
line up our missionaries, thus dividing them into separate 
groups. Some had signed the paper and some equally con- 




Among the Yellow Folks Again 


195 


scientious had refused. As my predecessors know, there was 
a time when the China Mission was not a unit. It is more 
nearly so now, in spirit and cooperative effort, than ever 
in its history. It would be nothing short of a tragedy to 
have it divided again unless there is sufficient cause. 

At the present writing both missionaries and native 
preachers are engaged in a vigorous evangelistic campaign. 
Letters from Soochow tell of the conversion of several of the 
brightest students in the university, and last night a letter 
from Miss Mabel Howell quotes the principal of McTyeire, 
our institution for girls in Shanghai, as referring to the re¬ 
vival now on in the following words: “Every girl in the high 
school that was not a member of a Church expressed a desire 
to become a Christian." Surely no one can say that God 
is not blessing the China Mission. 

In the case of Brother-I had a long talk with him, 

after reading the publication of excerpts from his article, 
and tried to show him that his position in regard to Jesus 
Christ involved inextricable difficulties as to his divine nature, 
and grew out of a faulty exegesis. He was modest and reticent, 
saying that it was an effort to lead a group of young Chinese 
who were feeling their way out of agnosticism and reaching 
toward Christ as the ideal God-man. He was in error, I 
am persuaded, in his conclusions, growing out of false prem¬ 
ises, but as] sincere and devout as any of us, and gives 
unmistakable evidence of the genuineness of his conversion. 
Men are constantly turning to Christ in that great school 
through his Christly teachings and example. 

I do not think some of our missionaries have been sufficiently 
careful in the selection of their literature in English which 
they have been using in the classroom and Sunday school, 
especially the Graded Lessons published by Charles Scribner. 
This I have called their attention to. 

Now as regards Brother-and his attitude. He has 

not been willing to accept my statement that I had quietly 
set myself to the task of meeting the issues involved, but must 
be given time and my own way. I have talked with more than 
half of the missionaries personally about the supreme im¬ 
portance of banishing erroneous doctrines, if there be any, 
and of laying deep those foundations of revealed truth which 




196 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


are basic and vital to the life and work of the Church in 
China. 

I have prayed with them and with the Chinese brethren, 
preached on those fundamental truths which we as a Church 
hold to be indispensable. I have changed Conference ap¬ 
pointments to this end and planned for revival services in our 
institutions, all of which conspired to one end—namely, a 
personal, vital faith in Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of 
God. For this end I was set apart by the Church, and in the 
providence of God given charge of the mission fields in the 
Orient and in Africa. 

Of the sincerity of Brother-1 have not the slightest 

doubt, but the missionaries object to his methods. We should 
all be jealous for the faith once delivered to the saints. It is a 
precious heritage. This is no time for our leaders at home and 
abroad to give out an uncertain sound, and our candidates 
for Christian work at home and abroad should be carefully 
scrutinized as to their grounding in the essentials; but there 
never was a day in which vigorous men and women have more 
thoroughly resented proscription in thought. They claim 
the right to think for themselves. 

The position set forth in this letter was the one 
he maintained to the end of this subject. I have 
known no man who had a more robust and masterful 
faith than he had. He was neither a mystic nor in 
any sense a rationalist. He believed the great, funda¬ 
mental truths and lived by them. One might judge 
from certain facts and experiences that he was a 
pietist. His firm reliance on prayer and his faith 
in the power of the Holy Spirit were outstanding 
characteristics of his religious life. Yet he was 
never in any danger of becoming a fanatic or a 
Pharisee. The writer was close to him when the 
controversy raged in the Church on the subject 
of Holiness or Perfect Love. One would have ex¬ 
pected him to have sided with those who contended 


Among the Yellow Folks Again 197 

for an experience and practice of Christian perfection, 
but he maintained a position far removed from either 
extreme and never made any extravagant claims of 
unusual spiritual attainments. Attention was called 
in an earlier chapter of this book to a remarkable 
experience he had in the early years in Japan. But 
so modest was he, and so far from making a personal 
application of it, that in the telling of it in after 
years one never detected the note of doctrinal 
interpretation or personal application. Once this 
incident was referred to in the presence of members 
of his own household and they disclaimed any 
interpretation of that experience which tended to 
set him apart from other Christians. So human and 
so unassuming was he that they were not willing that 
he should be represented as a sort of super-saint. 

On the other hand, he was equally as far removed 
from laxity and liberalism in Christian doctrine as 
one need be. Any one who has heard him often 
in the pulpit will recall his insistence on the great, 
fundamental doctrines of the gospel. But he could 
not be intolerant nor could he be partisan, swayed 
by mere names and phrases. When this controversy 
arose, which he believed to be characterized by both 
these dangerous and divisive qualities, he would 
not be swayed by mere rumors and exaggerated 
alarms. Most of all, his soul revolted at any unfair, 
covert, or unbrotherly methods of propaganda. 
Even when a missionary left his work without leave 
and came before the Board, the Bishop treated him 
with consideration, and only in a few quiet words at 
the close affirmed his confidence in the soundness 
of the faith of the missionaries. 


198 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


This occurred when the emotions of men had been 
mightily stirred by the war, and when the whole 
world had been swept from its moorings. He voices 
his convictions of the fundamental need of the hour 
in the following letter written to Bishop H. C. Mor¬ 
rison on June 2, 1921, when he says in commenting 
on “the great preaching of the great truths which 
make for righteousness and Christian character”: 

Spiritual results do not come from philosophy. They come 
from spiritual power, and this in turn from prayer and feed¬ 
ing on the very word of God, to have power with God that 
he may have power with men and upon his ministry. There 
is no other way. Our native preachers are discovering this 
secret. O that we had more preaching everywhere of the 
gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation to every one 
that believeth; a gospel which means inner illumination, 
pungent conviction, scriptural regeneration, restoration to 
the image of God, and that inspiration which comes from the 
abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. Then we would have a 
resurgence of the apostolic spirit, and the Church would be 
ready to attempt the impossible. The impossible must be 
attempted if we take the world for Christ. 

Every form of authority was being tested anew. 
Traditions counted for little. Everything was being 
questioned. It was easy for one to lose his head. 
It was easy to fall into the quagmire of pessimism 
and think the world was going to smash. In such 
times in the world’s history there have always arisen 
cults that sought refuge in radical literalism and set 
dates for a manifestation of cataclysmic force where 
grace and mercy and the love of God had failed. 
On the other hand, it was equally easy to fall into 
the scientific drift and rely on the discoveries of the 
mind to the discount of the revealed things of the 


Among the Yellow Folks Again 199 

Spirit. It was also easy for one extreme to call the 
other a name and then assume that everybody must 
of necessity be in one class or the other. It required 
a strong faith and a vital experience to steady one 
and keep him with the great majority of Christian 
people who are the salt of the earth and not its 
poison, the light of the world and not its devouring 
fire. 

Bishop Lambuth belonged to the latter class. He 
sought to keep and lead the one and restrain the 
other, to conserve the ends of sound doctrine and at 
the same time of justice, fair play, and the charity 
that believes and hopes. 

It is proper to refer here again to his faith in 
prayer and special providence. He believed in a 
living Christ who was still able to fulfill his promises 
and by his spirit furnish guidance to his followers. 
While writing this chapter the following incidents, 
written at the request of the author by his daughter 
Mary, were received: 

There were a number of instances in father’s life which he 
said he could only understand in the light of Special Provi¬ 
dence. On one of the trips on the Japanese Inland Sea they 
encountered a frightful typhoon. It seemed as if the ship 
would be torn to pieces the next minute. The captain of the 
vessel came to father and said: “I am not a Christian, but I 
am sure your God will hear you, and I want you to tell me what 
to do. Shall I turn back, or go forward?” Father said it 
simply came to him to say “Go forward.” They did and were 
soon out of the storm. Had they turned back, they would 
have been dashed to pieces against the rocks, as a number of 
other vessels were. 

A number of years ago when in California, as Missionary 
Secretary, father was going from Oakland to Los Angeles, and 
was just boarding the train when it seemed to him that he 


200 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


must write his mother a letter. He got off the train and asked 
when the next train would leave for Los Angeles. The 
brakeman said the second section would leave in thirty 
minutes. Father wrote the letter and took the second section. 
Near Byron Hot Springs the engine of the train father was 
in telescoped the car father would have been in, and every¬ 
one in the car was killed. 

Again, in North Carolina, father boarded a train and the 
impression was so strong that he get off that he did and 
waited some hours for the next train. The first train was 
wrecked and the car which father would have gotten into 
was completely destroyed. Everyone in the car was killed. 

I have heard father and mother tell of a strange thing that 
happened when they were in China. A young Chinese 
employed by them as house boy was drowned in a near-by 
canal. His body was recovered, father bought a coffin, and 
on account of the condition of the body had it sealed before 
he notified his friends. When they came and found the 
coffin sealed they at once demanded money, and said that 
doubtless father had taken the boy’s eyes out and had sent 
them to America to be made into a servant. Father gave 
them what money he had, but it did not satisfy them, and 
they left to return later with a howling mob at their back. 
They surrounded the house and threatened to burn it down 
and kill everyone inside. Father and mother said that 
there was nothing to do but pray, and they did. Just as 
soon as the mob had broken down the back door, a sudden 
gust of wind blew down the kitchen chimney and blew the 
fire out of the stove right into the faces of the men who had 
broken in. With a cry that the God of the missionaries was 
after them they fled, and the rest of the mob, not knowing 
what had happened, but seeing the leaders running as for 
their lives, ran with them and never returned. 

He who would put a dogmatic interpretation on 
these incidents would assume far more than the 
Bishop did. He would find himself at the starting 
point of a theodicy, and assume the task of justifying 
the ways of God to man. Such incidents have the 


Among the Yellow Folks Again 201 

value of personal testimony, and get their evidential 
weight from the influence they have in the life of 
the person who experiences them. Here we confront 
a fact as real and as stubborn as the movement of 
the stars. Men in all ages who have got their arms 
about the world and lifted it higher, and who have 
lost their lives for humanity’s sake and for Christ’s 
sake, have lived in such a faith and borne such testi¬ 
mony. It devolves on the doubter to account for this 
moral equation. 

Was it Count Tolstoi who gave an indignant chal¬ 
lenge to the materialistic scientists of the past 
century on the basis of their boasted idolatry of 
facts? What facts? Is it scientific to ignore a whole 
vast range of facts that are as evident and as perma¬ 
nent as the planets—such, for example, as conscience? 
These he declares they avoid because they are in¬ 
convenient. True, those facts that we are dealing with 
are of that class. They are of the soil out of which 
saints and heroes are grown and may be tested by 
their fruits. Paul makes the supreme test of the 
supreme miracle, the resurrection of Jesus, that it 
was “according to the spirit of holiness.” Holy 
fruit is as rare and mysterious as any other miracle, 
and we may not lightly discount that which feeds and 
fosters it. God has his own ways of recharging the 
spent batteries of our lives and of reviving and vivi¬ 
fying his witness in our souls. 


CHAPTER XV 
AN OVERFLOWING LIFE 


“ Pour out thy love like the rush of a river, 

Wasting its waters forever and ever, 

Through the burnt sands that reward not the giver; 
Silent or songful thou nearest the sea.” 

—Rose Terry Cooke. 

The test of a man is his capacity to overflow. It 
was never meant that we should stay within con¬ 
ventional limits and do only the necessary and 
expected. There should be periods of flood and over¬ 
flow when new areas are overspread and new de¬ 
posits are left to enrich and bless unsurveyed and 
unallotted wastes. This is the righteousness which 
exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Phari¬ 
sees, whose course is nicely prescribed, and whose 
moral chores are set within well-defined limits. They 
kept the benevolent impulses well under control. 
There was no provision for a downpour and over¬ 
flow. Bishop Lambuth’s life could not be kept 
within limits set out by tradition, nor official defini¬ 
tions and statutory regulations. His eye was on the 
second mile while duty only claimed the first. 
There were extra sheaves always waiting for the 
gleaners in his wheat field. He could hear always 
the bleating of the sheep that were not of his fold, 
and saw always, outside his garden, the vision of 
roses blooming in the deserts. 

It was not for him to say of the deadly famine in 
China in 1920: “Pity those poor people are dying so, 
( 202 ) 


203 


An Overflowing Life 

but it lies outside my territory, and I have all I 
can do to look after my own tasks.” Rather, it was 
like him to go where human wretchedness was at 
its worst, and where help was most needed, be it near 
or far. 

He went into the North and surveyed the situation. 
He saw the conditions as they were—men and women 
and children dying of starvation, eating the roots of 
grasses and the bark of trees in their extremity. 
Their cattle had already been killed and eaten. 
The horror and pity of it gripped him. He cabled 
and wrote, then hurried home with the story. 

A meeting of the Board of Missions had already 
been called and an appeal for funds authorized. 
Twenty-five thousand dollars had been immediately 
cabled to the field. This had been received with re¬ 
joicing. The Church was responding, and when the 
Bishop reached home about $150,000 had been re¬ 
ceived and forwarded. The sum finally reached about 
$250,000. The first opportunity he had to present the 
cause was before the Foreign Missions Conference in 
Atlantic City in January, 1921. His first-hand 
message stirred and thrilled the body. It created a 
new interest in the cause. A committee had been 
appointed by President Wilson, with Mr. Thomas 
W. Lamont, of the National City Bank, New York, 
as chairman. Bishop Lambuth was put on that com¬ 
mittee. He went out among the Churches telling the 
moving story. He urged the cause of forty millions 
of starving people with compelling eloquence. Per¬ 
haps no one man did more than he to promote the 
cause. It was estimated that he was instrumental 
in raising a million dollars. Following is part of an 


204 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


address delivered at the Foreign Missions Conference 
at Garden City, N. Y., January 19, 1921, and later 
in many other places in the country: 

The conditions which I found in a visit to the interior of 
Shantung and Chihli by mule cart, horseback, and on foot, 
almost baffle description. I found east and west of the 
Grand Canal that lands were being sold for about one-third 
of their value, say at seven or eight dollars per mow (about 
$50 per acre), and that nearly all the animals had been sold. 
In one village where eighty were in use prior to the famine, 
now only twenty were left and they were about to be 
slaughtered and sold. In another, of thirty animals, only three 
were left. Land was being sold or mortgaged. The people 
in the face of the coming winter had pawned or sold their 
clothi'ng. They said that they would rather freeze than 
starve. I took a photograph or two in which boys were almost 
stripped of their clothing. 

As to the food itself, or what is being used for food, I found, 
just six weeks ago, that what they had would not last more 
than three or four weeks. It consisted of nubbins of corn 
with fifteen or twenty grains to a nubbin. These grains were 
not well formed and were watery. An ear of corn grown 
about two hundred miles farther north, near the Great Wall, 
was about ten inches long and had several hundred grains 
of corn, well formed and solid. In the famine area the ear 
was not the length of your index finger and had an average 
of only fifteen or twenty grains. The millet was empty, a 
mere husk with no head. The people were eating ground 
corn cobs mixed with leaves of elm, poplar, and ash trees, 
differing in different cases, and the little berry that grows on 
the ash tree; also potato tops where they could beg or steal 
them. These were soon disposed of. I found them eating 
thistles. I asked a farmer one day: “ Why are you eating this 
stuff?” It was being prepared by his wife. He replied: 
“There is no help for it.” Then he added: “I couldn’t get 
my animals, when I owned any animals, to eat the food I 
am putting into my own stomach and that which is being 
eaten by my family. You well know the consequences.” 

The consequences, of course, would be, first, reduction of 


205 


An Overflowing Life 

efficiency as far as work is concerned, followed by dysentery 
and aversion of the alimentary canal on account of the 
scouring taking place, and ultimately death either by starva¬ 
tion or disease. 

In one village I met a woman of seventy-two. “ Where is 
your husband?” I queried. “He has gone out to beg.” 
“How long will he be gone?” “Two or three weeks,” was 
the answer. “Have you sons?” “Three. They have gone 
to beg or work.” “If they cannot get work or beg,” I 
asked the village elder and Mr. Hineger, who was with me, 
“what are they going to do then?” “They will rob,” was 
the reply. In some of the villages it is now dangerous to 
travel. Robbing is growing constantly, as I was informed 
by the missionaries of the London Missionary Society. 

Fuel, of course, is scarce. Their dependence there is not 
upon trees, but upon the stalks of the kaoliang (Gowliang, 
a kind of broom corn) and millet, which constitute their fuel. 
But not having had stalks for two years, they are tearing 
down their houses and burning them or the kaoliang stalks 
used for the roofs of these buildings. In a few weeks these 
will be used up and then they face death from freezing as 
well as death from starvation. 

Then there are the diseases. Dr. Piel told me that there 
had been cholera at that time, because it had turned warm and 
the flies carried the poison. He said: “It is rather typhus 
fever we are anticipating. The people have sold or killed 
their animals, and are not able to transport the sick to our 
hospital. Consequently our patients have dropped off thirty 
per cent during the last few weeks. I do not know what will 
happen,” he continued. They were trying to take care of the 
London Mission at that point, one hundred and ten li (35 
miles) west of Techow. 

I asked: “How much money have you received, and how 
many can you take care of?” “All told, we have room to 
take care of twelve thousand people,” was his reply. “ What 
will become of the remaining eighty-eight thousand of your 
one hundred thousand?” I asked, to which he replied: “They 
will perish.” “What policy have you adopted?” He 
answered: “The policy we have adopted is the same as that 
of the Red Cross—viz., the taking of a certain number of 


206 Walter Russell Lambuth 

villages and carrying them through the year. That is all 
we can do. M 

“What about the rest?” He replied: “They will die. As 
there is no use to keep them alive for two months and then 
let them starve, we have had to select a few villages, and are 
endeavoring to carry those people through until the end of 
the season.” 

The urgency, therefore, is indeed very great. I can hardly 
help you to realize how great it is. I sat in my car and looked 
out of my window at a point between Techow and Tientsin, 
and someone threw a sandwich out of the diner onto the other 
track. There were two women who sprang upon the track— 
it was a double-track road—and as they struggled for the 
sandwich a guard, who sat there to protect the tracks, ran 
to these two women, separated them, and threatened to strike 
them, in order that they might get off the track. A dog 
then sprang in and ate the sandwich. 

I saw a dog in a village trying to eat a piece of oilcloth. 
He did his best to chew it up and swallowed it, but he was 
so weak that he himself could hardly stand up. 

In the villages to the east of where I saw this, I found 
there were no children—I mean no babies, none under one 
year of age. I asked: “Where are the children?” “Gone,” 
was the reply. 

“Give them away?” I queried. The reply came back: 
“We have no one to give them to. What can we feed them? 
We have no one to sell them to. Who would buy them? 
Why, children are being bought in Shanghai at a dollar apiece.” 
The mother continued: “Rather than see our children starve, 
we will throw them into the wells.” As a result the wells 
have become so polluted in some sections, the American 
Consul told me at Tsinanfu, that the water could not be used. 

The month of March will probably be the crucial month. 
There is no time to be lost, because by March these fifteen 
million people, if they do not have more food than they are 
getting now, will at that time have become so weakened by 
lack of food that they will perish either from starvation, dis¬ 
ease, or cold. It is a fact that in the last famine they ate the 
cotton in their clothing to satisfy their hunger. They wear 
cotton-padded VQy k/iow. 


An Overflowing Life 


207 


These are no exaggerated statements. I have seen the 
tragedy and looked it right in the eye. The missionaries 
there are feeling it very acutely, and urging that help—ade¬ 
quate help—be given at once. 

When Bishop Lambuth went to the Orient in 
1919 his task was enough to have satisfied the ambi¬ 
tion of even a younger and more vigorous man. With 
China quivering to her finger tips with intellectual, 
social, political, and religious awakening; Japan 
with the wine of her new international influence 
surging in her blood, and her people a vast group of 
animated interrogation points; and Korea discovering 
her soul in a whirlwind of patriotic fervor, rising up 
out of her despair and humiliation to write her plea 
for freedom in the red characters of martyrdom—that 
was a situation to challenge the statesmanship and 
courage of any man. 

But in September, 1919, a spark was dropped in 
the mind of this man of vision. His attention was 
called to the migration of Koreans to Siberia since 
1870, and which had been greatly accelerated 
in recent years. To another man this would have 
been interesting as a historic fact and perhaps as 
only another of many missionary calls that must wait 
for a convenient season. To him it was more. It 
was a call to immediate action. He instructed Revs. 
M. B. Stokes and J. S. Ryang to visit the country at 
once with a view to opening work there. This was 
found impracticable, for the State Department at 
Washington refused to issue passports to Siberia 
under the conditions then prevailing. Nothing 
daunted, the Bishop secured the adoption of the 
following resolutions at the annual meeting of the 
Mission Board in 1920: 


208 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


Be it resolved , That, in view of conditions demanding our 
ministry in that section, we authorize the bishop in charge of 
the Oriental fields to open work in Siberia. 

It is not without significance that this resolution 
sets no racial limits to the proposed mission. This 
omission was not accidental. He had long considered 
Russia as an inviting field. Siberia presented at 
least one gateway to the realization of that dream. 
Furthermore, there were more than a half million 
Chinese there and more going. It was a great land 
of promise for the overcrowded populations of the 
East—rich in gold, silver, copper, lead, coal, oil, 
timber, and almost limitless stretches of fertile lands. 
Vast in territory and capable of sustaining a numer¬ 
ous population, it is fast becoming the melting-pot 
of the Orient. Fifty-seven times larger than Korea, 
over thirty times the size of Japan proper, and four 
times the size of China, it looms large on the map 
of the future. How inviting such a land to one whose 
eye was always lifted to the far horizons, and how 
impossible for him to confine his purpose or limit the 
goal of his Board to a single race, or a narrow area! 
In a resolution of twenty-six words he embodied the 
marching orders of his Church to a land twice the 
size of his own country, on whose vast areas one 
could already hear the tread of countless millions 
coming down the future, representing the four great 
races of the East, bringing with them the omnipresent 
problem of the races to be fought out anew, and 
perhaps finally here in the big Northeast. 

He had planned to make a tour of that country in 
the autumn of 1920, but the appeal of the famine in 
North China, referred to in the preceding chapter, 


An Overflowing Life 


209 


diverted him from that purpose. This, however, 
did not delay action. He appointed Rev. W. G. 
Cram, D.D., Superintendent, and he, with others, 
entered Siberia in October, 1920, and began work 
at various places. 

In July, 1921, Bishop Lambuth visited the field 
and held the first meeting of the Mission at Nikolsk 
on August 1. The story of that journey is best told 
in his own words. I therefore quote here at some 
length from letters written at the time in the vivid 
and picturesque style that was characteristic of their 
author. The temptation is strong to quote more 
from these letters, which are models of close observa¬ 
tion, human interest, and lifelike description: 

We left Songdo at midnight of Friday, July 22. The party 
consisted of Revs. W. G. Cram, L. C. Brannan, and J. O. J. 
Taylor. Brother J. S. Ryang is also to be with us on this 
journey, but has gone on in advance, as far as Harbin, in 
Manchuria. Our train moves along in line with the longi¬ 
tudinal diameter of the Korean peninsula, and is a part of the 
Japanese system which, except for the ferry across the straits 
between Shimoneseki, Japan, and Fusan, Korea, gives an 
almost unbroken line of over 1,200 miles from Tokyo to 
Mukden and Changchun. From this point it merges into 
the Chinese Eastern Railway, which in turn taps the great 
East and West Transcontinental Siberian Road. Reserva¬ 
tions had been made, the little redcap porter was on hand to 
place our grips on the train, and in a few minutes we were 
stowed away in our compartments for the remainder of the 
night. We were a little crowded, for there was scarcely enough 
space on the floor for our feet, the sleeping quarters were 
somewhat cramped, and the ventilation poor; but with it all 
the traveler can be thankful that he is not on pony back, or 
in a mule cart, or even on foot, for an extensive excursion 
like this into the regions beyond. 

The early morning brought to view numberless little vil- 

14 


210 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


lages in the coves of the mountains, with houses covered 
with low thatch, which protected the walls from driving 
rain and was turned down curiously enough over the gable 
ends. A rude, low chimney could be seen here and there, 
which served to convey the smoke from a pine-brush fire 
utilized for cooking purposes and in the winter for heating 
by a simple system of flues. These houses, on the floors of 
which the Koreans sit, would in the severe cold be otherwise 
almost untenantable. They may get unbearable, however, 
to an American, especially if he happens to be given the post 
of honor at the end of the room nearest the fire. 

On my first trip across from Wonsan to Seoul years ago in 
company with Dr. Hardie I recall being obliged to get out 
into the court twice during one night to cool off. I was told 
the story of a missionary who lay down with a couple of 
candles in his pocket and woke up in the morning to find 
nothing left but wicks. Such an experience might leave the 
poor fellow feeling as if his backbone had turned to a cotton 
string. It gives one in the United States a glimpse of what 
the evangelistic missionary, who makes little ado over such 
things, goes through with when he makes his rounds during 
the winter, wading through snow, eating coarse food in the 
day, and baking over an oven at night, unless he makes pro¬ 
vision against these. 

In the early morning we passed through Pyeng Yang, the 
well-known center for missionary work in Northern Korea, 
the headquarters in that section of both Presbyterians and 
Methodists. Perhaps there is no center in this field which so 
throbs with Christian life and power. During my first visit 
to Korea I attended a service in the afternoon in the great 
Presbyterian church, which had been enlarged three times to 
accommodate its membership. There were over twelve 
hundred men at the service. Upon inquiring for the women, 
I was told that there was no room, the service for them having 
been held in the morning, with an attendance of more than 
eight hundred. In addition to educational and medical work, 
the Methodists also have a flourishing evangelistic field 
radiating out from the city. 

We reached the great city of Antung, on the Yalu River, 
about eleven o'clock and were at once impressed by the fine 


An Overflowing Life 


211 


railroad bridge; the splendid buildings put up by the Japanese, 
built of brick and neatly trimmed with red, the chimney 
stacks, which indicated manufacturing activity, the immense 
rafts, which spoke of primeval forests in the upper reaches 
of this great river, and the numberless boats and junks, not 
a few of which had coasted along the shore of the Yellow 
Sea, laden with goods from China, and scheduled to return 
with beans, millet, and lumber for the northern provinces of 
the republic to the west. An occasional automobile shows up 
at such stations as this, indicating the impulse given to travel 
and transportation which comes almost directly through the 
influence of a Western civilization. 

The entrance of the automobile into these Oriental coun¬ 
tries has resulted in some unique regulations for the control 
of traffic. The following might be suggestive and helpful 
to some of our authorities in tne United States, who are cudgel¬ 
ing their brains to protect the public adequately: 

Rules of the Road—“Safety First.” 

1. At the rise of the hand of the policeman, stop rapidly. 

2. Do not pass him by or otherwise disrespect him. 

3. When a passenger of the foot hove in sight, tootle the 
horn; trumpet at him melodiously at first, but if he still 
obstacles your passage, tootle him with vigor and express by 
work of the mouth the warning, “Hai! Hai!” 

4. Beware of the wandering horse that he shall not take 
fright as you pass him by. Do not explode and exhaust 
box at him. Go soothingly by. 

5. Give big space to the festive dog that shall sport in the 
roadway. 

6. Avoid entanglement of dog with your wheel spoke. 

7. Go soothingly on the grease mud, as there lurks the 
skid demon. 

8. Press the brake of the foot as you roll around the corner 
to save collapse and tie up. 

9. When you meet the cow and the horse go silently to the 
side of the road and wait till he passes away. 

The foregoing may be crude, but it is a move in the right 
direction. We cannot give too much credit to Japanese 
enterprise in the building of excellent roads, even though 
some of them are for military purposes; the establishment of 
experimental farms, the improvement of stock, the reforests- 


212 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


tion of denuded hills and mountain sides, the establishment 
of hospitals and attention to public health, the provison for 
large towns of a water supply which adds greatly to the con¬ 
venience and welfare of these communities, and to the sta¬ 
bilizing of the currency of the country which is practically that 
of a gold basis. 

The road from Changchun (“Long Spring”) to Harbin runs 
150 miles in a northeasterly direction. We boarded our train 
at midnight and arrived in Harbin at 7:30 the next morning, 
Wednesday, July 27. As we approached our car, there was 
a scene of bewildering confusion. An eager crowd of Chinese 
with a small sprinkling of Japanese were endeavoring to get 
first choice in the second- and third-class coaches. Some of 
these were double-deckers. In less time than it takes to de¬ 
scribe it, they were occupying seats or beds with their many 
bundles and packages in order to secure as much room as 
possible. One boy of ten stowed himself away in a rack 
intended for luggage, above the second tier of beds, and hung 
his legs over. It reminded me of a midnight scene in India 
when hundreds of Mohammedan pilgrims bound for Mecca 
via Bombay were plunging headlong into freight cars at a few 
cents a head. For ten minutes one could see only arms and legs 
in the struggling mass. Order was restored only when the 
British guard jumped in and hauled out a dozen or more by 
the feet. 

We have made the change from Japanese to Russian 
coaches. The track is Russian, the rolling stock is Russian, 
and the attendants are Russian. The coaches, especially the 
sleeping cars, are large, high, and the first-class ornately 
furnished and equipped with almost every device in wood and 
brass, including folding seats under the windows in the pass¬ 
way. Small canopies hang over the windows, mirrors appear 
in unexpected places; there are electric lights in bulbs of 
different colors, the blue being turned on for the passenger’s 
convenience after he goes to bed if he desires it, receptacles 
for cigar ashes, linen covers over leather cushion seats with 
ornamental diagrams, and other indications of the old 
Russian order. 

The conductor and guard were dressed in frocks, with 
broad leather belts, leather knee boots, dark-blue serge 


An Overflowing Life 


213 


trousers full at the sides, and military caps. They were 
polite and fairly attentive, informing us that passports 
would be examined after midnight and called for before leav¬ 
ing the train. In the morning, the Russian boy or porter 
served tea on the little shelf at the window in the passway, 
with a slice of lemon, and sugar added if desired. 

Daylight comes early in this northern latitude. At 3:30 
the sky began to be gray. The country is rolling, rather than 
flat or mountainous as in Southern Manchuria, and shows 
the effects of drought. The ground is very dry and vegetation 
not so well advanced as in the sections about Changchun, 
Kirin, and Mukden. The small stations are surrounded by 
brick or stone walls eight feet high, pierced for rifles. These 
were constructed in the early days of the railroad, to protect 
from the attacks of Chinese soldiers, and at the present 
time they are supposed to insure safety from roving bandits 
of almost any one of two or three nationalities. The guards 
at the stations are Chinese in military uniform, who, in squads 
of from five to ten, are lined up facing the train with bayonets 
fixed. 

Upon arrival at Harbin station, we were driven to the 
Palace Hotel, which was not exactly palatial, but, like many 
other buildings, was in Russian or French style of architecture. 
The walls were nearly two feet thick, the staircase of stone or 
concrete, the halls spacious, the rooms large, the walls painted, 
and high ceilings frescoed. The furniture is of heavy wood 
and the bedsteads of iron, but the bedrooms are lacking in 
what we would term the necessities and conveniences of an 
American hotel. There are no towels, no soap, no sheets, 
no blankets, no drinking water unless called for—and even 
then one runs the risk of dysentery from its being unboiled, 
and in many cases unfiltered. There is no hot bath unless 
you order two hours in advance, thus giving time to heat up 
a cast-iron boiler big enough to hold two barrels. 

Following is one of three articles prepared by 
Bishop Lambuth just before his death. They are 
the last that he wrote for publication, which gives 
them peculiar significance: 


214 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


On Sunday, July 31, 1921, at 8 a.m. the deep-toned bell of 
the Greek Church for the moment carried us away to far 
America. The service continues for a couple of hours, appeal¬ 
ing to the imagination and to the devotional spirit, but has 
little in it to stir the thought or to arouse the action. There 
did not seem to be many people going to or coming from 
church. The remainder of the day is spent as a holiday. 
Not a few country people were in the hay market, the women 
in brighter gowns exchanging gossip, and the men smoking, 
trading horses, exchanging produce, or discussing the political 
situation. 

We repaired to our little rented chapel, not far from the city 
hall, in time for Sunday school. The day was warm and the 
room small, so we found some two hundred and eighty-five 
gathered in the yard under the trees. This school included a 
large number of Korean boys and girls, big and little, who 
seemed healthy, bright, and full of promise. The superin¬ 
tendent, Yi Ho Choon, had evidently been well instructed in 
the Scriptures. The subject was, “Jesus the Lord of the 
Sabbath.” He explained the rubbing of the heads of grain 
in the hands of the disciples as being objected to by the 
Pharisees because it seemed like the action of millstones in 
crushing the wheat. He referred to the case of David and the 
shewbread and justified his action as a necessity, since it was 
to save life. He quoted a Chinese proverb and applied it. 
Then there followed a reference to the inconsistency of the 
Jewish law, which held a man guilty of murder who failed to 
attempt to rescue one in the act of drowning and yet considered 
the plucking of heads of wheat on the Sabbath as a sin even 
when people were suffering from hunger. He closed with a 
few words upon the necessity of prayer upon the ground that 
Jesus prayed, though divine in nature. The dignity, clearness, 
and force with which he expounded the Scripture would have 
done credit to many a school at home. 

The eleven-o’clock service was held under the trees in the 
corner of the large yard. As the benches filled up, it was 
interesting to see caps and hats hung to the limbs and Russian 
boys climbing up on the outside and looking over the high 
fence. One Russian girl held to the barbed wire above the 
fence to steady herself while satisfying her curiosity. Back 


215 


An Overflowing Life 

of her I caught a glimpse of a big-bearded Russian pressing 
his face against a crack and gazing with bewildered aston¬ 
ishment. Here was something out of the usual order in 
Siberia. 

A number of Korean women were in the congregation, all 
neatly dressed and with snow-white cloths tied around their 
raven-black hair. Several were in European costumes, but 
the majority of the older women adhered to the Korean 
style. The girls had their hair neatly combed, wore white 
sacks, black skirts, stockings, and leather shoes. The order 
was excellent. Nearly every believer observed the custom of 
bowing for a moment’s prayer upon entering the congre¬ 
gation. 

Being Methodists, the collection was taken before the 
sermon. It included rubles 5.45 in silver kopeck pieces, and 
ten silver dollars. The last item is worthy of permanent 
record. A number of years ago a Korean Christian woman of 
middle age emigrated with her family from Pyeng Yang to 
the valley of the Ussuri River, not far from where it empties 
into the Amur. Being an earnest Christian, she set about 
telling the story of her faith in Christ and what the Saviour 
had done for her. A younger woman believed and was soundly 
converted. This was about four years ago. The gospel gave 
this young convert so much comfort and strength that she 
regularly set aside a tithe of her small earnings to be paid to 
the Church when she could find one. This continued during 
the four years, and now, having moved to a village some ten 
li from Nikolsk, in company with the other woman, she 
brought the entire amount of her savings, ten dollars, carefully 
wrapped, and placed this sum in the hands of Pastor Chung 
Chai Duk. In telling the congregation about her gift he 
he held up the silver coins and with a glowing face said it 
represented the self-denial of a Christian woman who had 
done what she could and added that the knowledge of this 
gift in gratitude for what the Lord had done for her would 
be known across the sea in Christian lands. 

Later in the day the pastor of the Nikolsk Church an¬ 
nounced that, having conferred about the matter, the gift 
would be applied to the purchase of a communion set, which 


216 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


would become a permanent memorial in the church to the 
faith and love of this woman. 

The writer preached, with the help of that excellent in¬ 
terpreter, Brother J. S. Ryang, on “The Call of Abraham” 
(Heb. xi. 8, 10). “By faith Abraham, when he was called to 
go out into a place which he should after receive for an in¬ 
heritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he 
went. . . . For he looked for a city which hath foundations, 
whose builder and maker is God.” Is not the God of Abra¬ 
ham calling these Korean people to the same obedience, 
faith, and sacrificial spirit which characterized the Father of 
the faithful? This is a strange providence, but surely the 
Lord intends to use the Koreans mightily in the spread of the 
gospel among their own people in this northern region so 
far from their native land. The sermon was followed by an 
exhortation by Dr. W. G. Cram, which carried the truth 
home. 

At 3:30 p.m. we met again under the trees. I failed to de¬ 
scribe the preparations made in honor of our coming. A 
great arch of evergreens and flowers, with flags of several 
nations, had been erected in the large yard at the side of the 
house as an indication to the visiting brethren of the hearty 
welcome which awaited them. At the highest point of the 
arch was a white flag with a red cross in the middle of the field. 
We had seen several arches erected for Chang Tso Ling, the 
governor general, who was traveling northward toward 
Mongolia; but none of them equaled this in beauty, taste, and 
significance. That was perfunctory; this was from the heart. 

Let it be remembered that the writer of these 
letters was not a well man on a pleasure jaunt—far 
from it. He was suffering with a mortal malady and 
was bent on a serious adventure. One is reminded of 
Xavier, the dean of modern missions, who in the 
sixteenth century laid the foundations of a Catholic 
mission in India, then entered Japan and labored 
with success in the same territory in Japan where 
three hundred years later the Lambuths preached the 


217 


An Overflowing Life 

gospel, and then, when the sands of life were running 
low, sought to enter China and died on her borders. 
It was said of this indomitable disciple of Loyola 
that his good spirits were unfailing and he went about 
his work with the playful spirit of a boy, sometimes 
leaping and running and laughing in the exuberance 
of his delight in life. One catches the shimmer of 
smiles through these letters. The simple things of 
life, 

“The lowly lot, the common task,” 

are illuminated and dignified as by one to whom noth¬ 
ing human was indifferent. 

During this journey he is quoted as saying: 

I realize that I am making my last trip to the Orient. At 
the next General Conference I am going to ask to be given 
lighter work, so that I can be with my wife. But I have had 
part in the founding of the missions in Japan and in Africa, 
and now I will feel satisfied if I can lay the foundation of this 
work in Siberia and Manchuria. The doctors told me not to 
come, stating that I must go under the knife and then stay 
in the hospital for sixty days. But I want to found this mis¬ 
sion first, then I will be satisfied. 

Did he have a premonition that his tired feet were 
then on the last frontier over which he would 
carry the standard of the cross? They pointed out 
to the writer one of those Russian hotels in Vladi- 
vostock where he suffered both pain and discomfort 
without a murmur. 

In all this nothing was left undone, nor half done. 
The new mission was opened, the last mission it was 
to be the privilege of this modern apostle to pioneer. 
He said of it: “For its age, only one year, it is the 
lustiest mission we have ever begun.” It would be 


218 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


impossible to exaggerate the satisfaction it gave him. 
It was the last chapter in forty-four years of a 
service that knew no weariness nor surcease. At 
the close of the Mission meeting he wrote me the 
first confession of weariness or pain I ever had from 
him in our long association, and said: “It is the first 
time in forty-four years that I have ever had to slow 
down.” He had opened or been instrumental in 
opening Japan, Korea, Cuba, and Africa, and he had 
added the Texas Mexican and the Pacific Mexican 
in the United States and now adds to the list the 
Siberia—“a Christian empire in the making.” 
This mission will eventually minister to four races 
in that vast area. Already the China Mission Con¬ 
ference has entered Manchuria, called by them “The 
Three Eastern Provinces.” The Japan Mission of 
the M. E. Church, South, is considering a similar 
mission to the Japanese who are there in such num¬ 
bers and with such dominant influence. We have 
already the beginnings of a fine work among Koreans 
and Russians. When all is considered it is no wonder 
that Bishop Lambuth called this “the greatest 
missionary opportunity of this generation.” 

Let no one suppose for a moment that he was so 
absorbed in these great issues as to neglect the per¬ 
sonal and simple ministries that test the character. 
The Master himself anticipates the final test when 
he says, “As oft as ye have done it unto one of the 
least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” 
Furthermore this test was based on deeds so spon¬ 
taneous and unstudied that they were forgotten. 
It was in these unnoticed and unheralded deeds of 
love that the Bishop excelled. 


An Overflowing Life 


219 


In 1922 I was introduced to a young man in 
Huchow, China, Bishop Lambuth’s last convert. 
The story of the winning of this young Chinese was 
in this wise: Bishop Lambuth was traveling. It 
chanced that this young man was on the same boat. 
The Bishop sought him out, interested him in 
conversation, and when he had won his confidence 
he told him the old, old story. A personal acceptance 
of Christ was urged upon him so successfully that 
he yielded and on his return to Huchow united with 
the Church. This incident serves to illustrate a 
phase of the Bishop’s life which was as unique and 
as fine as it was inconspicuous. It has been said 
that there are men who love the race and are in¬ 
different to the individual; others who love men, but 
are indifferent to the race. Bishop Lambuth loved 
men and mankind. To him the man was not lost in 
the multitude nor the individual in the mass. To 
him the most significant, the most fundamental, and 
the supremely valuable thing in the universe was a 
person. The “rank was but the guinea stamp.” 
High or low, it was all the same to him. 

He sat down to breakfast in a home in the West. 
They were about to begin family worship when the 
colored cook came in. The Bishop arose, said, 
“This is a member of the household I have not met,” 
then walked over and shook hands with her. You can 
imagine that prayer had a meaning for that humble 
soul. He had been known to ride on the outside of 
a bus in order that he might have an opportunity to 
talk of spiritual things to the driver. On a sleeping 
car he would seek out the porter and engage him in 
serious conversation about personal religion. Let 


220 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


no one suppose that this was done with either a 
sepulchral tone or an official air. It was so simple 
and so tactful that a strange warming of the heart 
was the first warning one had that he was being 
religiously “dealt with.” 

It was said of One, “Then drew near unto him all 
the publicans and sinners for to hear him.” In 
proportion as men are like him they attract men to 
them. The man of whom we write carried a charm 
about him that drew men. One who knew him 
intimately writes of him: “He was the most Christ- 
like man I ever knew.” Another writes: “Bishop 
Lambuth was the simplest-hearted great man I 
ever knew. The lowliest could approach him and feel 
at home in his friendly presence. On railroad trains 
and steamships it was a little child, an old lady with¬ 
out a companion, a lonely, unattractive stranger that 
attracted him.” 

No one in Bishop Lambuth’s company was ever 
overlooked. The deaf old grandmother, the timid 
child, the feeble invalid in the home came in for a 
special share in his attentions and had cause to re¬ 
member him with delight. It has always been a mys¬ 
tery how he found time for these personal touches in 
a life so unceasingly busy and, still more, how he 
found a place in his thoughts for so many small per¬ 
sonal interests when his mind was weighed down with 
such a multitude of great cares. The secret is in the 
fact that nothing human was small to him. He said 
to a companion, when near the end and in much 
weakness and pain, and was busy with messages 
and acts of kindness and affection, “One cannot do 
too much for persons, for it is personality that 
counts.” 


An Overflowing Life 221 

Dr. J. C. C. Newton closed an eloquent tribute with 
these words: 

The one secret of the Bishop’s character as a leader and of 
his wonderful work in the earth is found in his burning love 
for men. Without distinction of race, nationality, or religion, 
he loved all men. He was a citizen of the whole world. He 
had the world mind because he had the Christ’s mind. I do 
believe he knew the Orient and could interpret the Oriental 
mind so well because he loved and sympathized with them 
as his own people. How sorely this lesson is needed to-day! 
We can never know a people till we love them. The Japanese, 
Koreans, and Chinese were his brothers and sisters and 
hence his power to influence them and lead them. Mind 
you, he was not in the least blinded to the dreadful evils and 
sins that are rife in this Oriental world. His love was not 
soft sentimental talk and compliment; he loved in deeds as 
well as in words. His love made him willing to suffer for 
Africa, the Dark Continent for which Livingstone suffered. 

It was thus that his life overflowed the connec- 
tional lines, ecclesiastical, geographical, racial, social, 
and official, and pushed out along all possible chan¬ 
nels to find its way in refreshing to every drooping 
and thirsty spirit within reach. 


CHAPTER XVI 
THE UNUTTERED MESSAGE 


“Give me heart touch with all that breathe 
And strength to speak my word; 

But if that is denied me, give 
The strength to live unheard.” 

—Edwin Markham . 

The subject of this story did not have leisure for 
writing. His was an active life filled with adminis¬ 
trative details and calling for a vast amount of travel. 
It is easy to see that such a life was not conducive 
to literary work. He often expressed regret for the 
past and purpose for the future in this regard. It 
was a cherished purpose on his part to write the 
life of his father and mother. The writer remembers 
his lament for lack of time to do this service and his 
earnest desire to find that time before the end of his 
journey. He set about gathering materials and 
had made good progress before he was called hence. 
In this he was materially assisted by Rev. W. E. 
Towson, of Kyoto, Japan, a lifelong friend. These 
materials have been used for reference in the earlier 
chapters of this volume, and should be prepared by 
some competent hand as a worthy and valuable 
contribution to our missionary history, as well as a 
deserved tribute to two of the most devoted and 
useful missionaries of their generation. However, it 
will never be so well done as Bishop Lambuth could 
have done it. 

In spite of his constant occupation in other duties 

( 222 ) 


The Unuttered Message 


223 


his literary work was considerable, for he helped 
translate the New Testament into Chinese in the 
Shanghai Dialect; for a time edited a paper in Chi¬ 
nese; contributed papers to the Ecumenical Confer¬ 
ences of 1892 and 1902; wrote a paper on self-support 
for the Ecumenical Missionary Conference of 1900, 
held in New York; helped prepare the Japanese 
Discipline for the Methodist Church of Japan and 
edited the English edition; wrote “Side Lights on the 
Orient,” a book of travel for children; edited the 
Review of Missions for a number of years; contributed 
papers from time to time to Conferences of, Secre¬ 
taries; made contributions to medical journals; 
made many contributions to Church papers; wrote 
“Medical Missions,” 1920, as a study book for the 
Student Volunteers; “Winning the World for Christ” 
is the subject of the Cole Lectures delivered before 
the students and faculty of Vanderbilt University. 
This last volume contains the cream of the author’s 
thinking on the subject of missions. He says in 
the preface to these lectures: 

These lectures are not intended as a review of the world- 
field of missions, home or foreign, with an attempt to bring 
out progress made, areas unoccupied, or critical needs, as 
imperative as those needs are. Nor is this a discussion of 
missions from the standpoint of principles and policy. It 
is an attempt, rather, to make some contribution to missionary 
dynamics by a study of the sources of inspiration and power. 

Great emphasis has been rightly placed, by missionary 
leaders, upon the needs of the unevangelized millions, the 
urgency of the task, the unprecedented opportunity of the 
hour, the commission of the Church, and the command to 
go, which Constitutes the divine imperative. 

As great as is the demand for widening the area of effort 
abroad, the greater need of the hour is that of deepened 


224 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


conviction at home. We must have a new sense of God, 
realize the immanence of the kingdom, the place and im¬ 
portance of intercessory prayer, the personality and power of 
the Holy Spirit, the necessity for heroic service and sacrifice, 
the mission of the Church, and the preeminence of Christ, 
who is head over all, If we can be brought to a true and vivid 
realization of these things, and the Church can be adequately 
awakened to a sense of God-given mission, an immense stride 
will have been made toward the goal set before us in the 
prayer of Jesus Christ, “Thy kingdom come.” 

The topics of the six lectures which make up the 
volume are, “The Kingdom of God,” “The Holy 
Spirit—God Seeking Man,” “Prayer—Man Seeking 
God,” “Missions and the Heroic,” “A Missionary 
Church,” and “The Preeminence of Christ.” These 
topics indicate the seriousness of his effort to keep 
to things fundamental, and the treatment moves on 
the same high level. The volume abounds in gems 
of thought that sparkle and tempt one to quote: 

The kingdom of God is not so much advanced by our efforts 
to build it up as by yielding ourselves to being built up in it. 

We are more desirous of identifying God with our little 
plans than we are of identifying ourselves with his great 
purpose. 

It is said of Abraham Lincoln that a group of Chicago 
ministers waited upon him at an anxious period of the Civil 
War and gave assurance that the Almighty was on his side. 
“Gentlemen,” said the great President, “I am not so con¬ 
cerned about his being on my side, as about being sure that 
I am on the side of the Almighty.” 

To win the world for Christ we must give Christ to the 
world. 

A great life has never been lived without vision, nor has an 
enterprise of world dimensions ever been launched in the 
absence of one. 

These are sample, pregnant sentences from a single 


The TJnuttered Message 225 

lecture, such as throng the paragraphs of these 
chapters like nuggets of pure gold. 

To one who knew the author intimately, the read¬ 
ing of this volume is like reading his spiritual auto¬ 
biography. He has unconsciously pictured to us the 
things of his own heart and life rather than the theo¬ 
ries and deductions of other men, or even his own 
speculations. 

Since referring in the preceding chapter to the over¬ 
flowing quality of his life, I have come upon a para¬ 
graph in his “Winning the World for Christ” which 
strikingly illustrates what was there set down as 
characteristic of his life. Commenting on the River 
of Life and its refreshing, he says: 

Inflow from above, ankle-deep, knee-deep, loin-deep, 
risen waters, waters to swim in, a river that cannot be passed 
over—sweeping along majestically in its might. Overflow 
on every side, through sluice gates and open channels, over 
land and waiting fields, until the seed sown beside all waters 
yield the abundant harvest. We are on the flood side of 
Pentecost! The tide is rising, and the harvest is near. The 
victory of faith shall be repeated. The impulse of a new life 
has come because of the overflow of the spirit. 

This is not simply an interpretation of the striking 
imagery of Ezekiel and St. John, but the result of 
the experience and observations of forty years of 
missionary pioneering. It carries one back to that 
never-to-be-forgotten hour in Oita, when the floods 
overswept the arid spaces and along the lonely 
stretches white with dust and edged with bloom¬ 
less waste till they made the desert blossom as a 
rose. He knew what each dull and stubborn genera¬ 
tion must relearn by its stupid blundering, loss, and 
15 


226 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


defeat, that floods of refreshing may come, must 
come from above. They do not gush from the dead 
level nor creep along our carefully prescribed chan¬ 
nels. We neither command nor control the tides 
of power by our skill and shrewd device and pompous 
statecraft, but by humility, obedience, purity, and 
prayer. 

Following are a few testimonials indicating the 
reception given this volume of lectures: 

E. R. Hendrix, Senior Bishop of the M. E. Church, 
South. 

I have read with great interest Bishop Lambuth's “Win¬ 
ning the World for Christ." It is worthy of the noble 
writer and of the great theme that has been upon his heart 
for forty years. It is clear in its analysis, convincing in its 
arguments, and powerful in its pleas, one of the greatest 
books in the fruitful missionary literature of our century. It 
deserves and will have a great circulation among our most 
thoughtful people. 

Dr. John R. Mott. 

I congratulate Vanderbilt University’s School of Religion 
on having had these vital messages given to the student 
body, and also on the arrangement that now makes possible 
bringing their stimulating influence to many readers. Bishop 
Lambuth writes and speaks out of such a rich experience, 
not only of the work of Christ, but of the knowledge of Christ, 
that what he has said in these lectures is calculated to be of 
inestimable service to all men who desire to know more of the 
spiritual meaning and possibilities of the missionary enter¬ 
prise. 

Dean W. F. Tillett, Vanderbilt University. 

As a man of vision, of deep spiritual power, and of catholic 
sympathies, Bishop Lambuth has few equals in American 
Methodism, and these qualities characterize this volume no 
less than they do the author. His long experience in mission¬ 
ary work in the Orient and as Missionary Secretary here at 


The Unuttered Message 


227 


home has given him an understanding of the world-field, its 
nature, needs, and possibilities, which find forcible and happy 
expression in this volume. 

There are also before me the notes and complete 
outline for a book to be entitled “How We Found 
Wembo-Niama.” This book of thirty-one chapters 
was to give a complete account of the wonderful 
trip into Central Africa, seven hundred and fifty 
miles of which was on foot. It was to deal in folklore, 
child life, village life, insects, animals, flora, native 
industries, religious beliefs, illuminated by the inci¬ 
dents of travel which he knew so well how to select 
and -set forth with absorbing interest. Much of this 
had been written and should be and doubtless will 
be completed by some competent hand. When it is 
printed it will be a most interesting contribution 
to the literature of the Dark Continent and especially 
that little-known section of the Upper Congo basin. 
There are whole pages that one would love to quote 
from this incomplete manuscript. We must be con¬ 
tent with the following interesting account of 
“ Palavers at Luebo”: 

First case. An evangelist brings three fowls. Wants salt 
and the Bible. He is disappointed because he may have to 
wait many days or even weeks. The Bible is in such demand 
that the printers, whom I can see from where I sit, are far 
behind with their work. This man has an honest face, wears 
a blue shirt and a well-worn brown coat, neatly patched in 
several places by his wife, who is also a Christian. He walked 
six days’ journey to get a Bible and to make his report. 

Second case. The son of Kalamba, the old chief who was 
made so uncomfortable by the State that, one dark night, he 
and his whole tribe “folded their tents” and slipped away 
from Luluaburg, going eight days’ journey to the southwest 
on the Portuguese border. There for several years he held 


228 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


the State troops at bay, intrenching himself in the fastnesses 
of the forest. They are desirous of the gospel and have a 
teacher-evangelist among them. The son brings four fowls 
and one sheep as a token of good will. Dr. Morrison gives in 
return half a sack of salt and three pieces of cloth. The sheep 
is turned over to Captain Scott for use on the Lapsley. 

Eight days’ journey for a “sugar-tit.” The teacher in 
Kalamba’s village sends a messenger with a note to say that 
his wife has given birth to a baby. She has not enough milk 
to satisfy the child and wants a little sugar to make a sugar- 
tit. The natives are very fond of their children and make little 
distinction between the boys and girls. If anything, the 
latter are preferred, because they will bring more sheep, 
goats, and cloth for the marriage dowry. 

Third case. Mubiai, the chief of Luluaburg, four days’ 
distant, sends a goat. He is an old soldier settled there by 
the State. He desired to move away, but the Belgian of¬ 
ficials insisted upon his remaining. He objected to the Roman 
Catholics and their practices. They sent a priest, who threat¬ 
ened and tried to browbeat him. He was finally compelled 
to let them build a shrine. Several of the best evangelists 
of the Presbyterians have come from this village. The chief, 
despairing of Protestant work in his village, moved half his 
people across the Lulua River and asked for an evangelist 
or teacher. He wants a writing pad, a bottle of ink, and a hoe. 
The goat goes to Captain Scott to provision the Lapsley on 
her next voyage down the river. 

Fourth case. A boy of eighteen says he was stolen from 
his tribe and carried to the southwest, many days' journey, 
to be delivered to the Portuguese. The island of Sao Thome 
was probably his destination, where he would be held for 
work on the sugar plantations. His master, wanting a wife, 
exchanged him for a woman in the village across the Lulua 
River. He escaped from his master and has been hid for two 
months in a village near Luebo. He asks to be protected 
from the people who bought him and are now on his track. 
Decision: He must go to the State. 

Fifth case. A man is brought by a woman and her friends 
with the complaint that he made way with a slave girl whom 
she owned and whom she had left in his care upon the occasion 


The Unuttered Message 229 

of her second marriage. The woman had been gone with her 
husband for two years, but upon her return to get the girl, she 
was missing. The man stoutly claimed that he was not re¬ 
sponsible for the girl after the lapse of so long a time, and did 
not know where she was. The decision of the three native 
helpers, who were Dr. Morrison’s counselors, was that, inas¬ 
much as the man intrusted with the slave girl had committed 
a breach of trust, he should pay the woman nine pieces of 
cloth—the difference between seven pieces of cloth, which he 
had actually received for the girl when he sold her, and 
sixteen pieces of cloth, the redemption price of a slave. This 
he refused to do and preferred to go to the State for a decision. 
He went to the State official, who decided he must find the 
girl and restore her to the woman. He returned the next 
day with a request to reopen the case, but Dr. Morrison 
refused, saying that he must abide by the decision of the State 
official. 

When one reads over these sketches and outlines 
he cannot but feel a sense of regret and a temptation 
to cry, “Why this waste ?” That this keen, alert, 
and appreciative observer, whom nothing escaped, 
should lack a little time in which to set down his 
observations, as he so well could, is a pity. We 
must console ourselves that he was giving too much 
of himself to his immediate generation to take time 
to send his message across to a future generation in 
the printed page. Is there not too a recompense in 
the assurance that whole literatures will come to 
efflorescence in the fertile soil where he has sown the 
good seed? In Africa he set men to reducing a lan¬ 
guage to writing and teaching the black savages the 
white magic of letters. Thus, as happened with our 
own forefathers when the missionaries found them 
and flooded their lives with light, he was setting the 


230 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


hearts of a people singing and their brains throbbing 
with the thoughts of which literatures are made. 

In the last year of his life he wrote much. Articles 
flowed from his pen. Most of them were missionary 
articles, recording keen observation of events, peo¬ 
ples, movements—showing almost abnormal mental 
activity. He kept a stenographer busy, sometimes 
till far into the night. Quite a number of articles 
came to this writer after the hand that wrote them 
had laid aside the pen for the final rest. This never 
ceased till he could no longer hold a pen and then he 
dictated page upon page and letter upon letter from 
his sick bed. It was as if he made haste to get his 
message said before the close of the day. Did he 
get it said? Since when did any man with a message 
utter it to the last syllable? The song of the singer 
is smothered by the great silence and the prophet 
grows dumb with his half-uttered message on his 
lips. In the Academy of Arts at Florence, one may 
see the imprisoned dreams of Michelangelo in the 
marbles from which the genius of the old sculptor 
had sought to set them free. Age might not quench 
the visions of beauty, nor time dim the flame of 
genius. God himself must take away the workman 
to stop the work. 

Victor Hugo’s eloquent argument for immortality 
was based on this unfading youth of the soul. 
‘‘The frosts of Winter are on my brow, but eternal 
Summer is in my soul. I smell the breath of the roses 
as at twenty, and the dreams of youth still throng 
my brain. For fifty years I have been writing 
fiction, poetry, drama, history, yet I have not 
written a tithe of what is in me. I shall finish my 


The Unuttered Message 


231 


day, but not my task. Life is not a blind alley, 
but a thoroughfare. ,, 

Robert Browning says: 

“For note, when evening shuts, 

A certain moment cuts 
The deed off, calls the glory from the gray; 

A whisper from the west 
Shoots—add this to the rest, 

Take it and try its worth—here dies another day. 

For more is not reserved 
To man, with soul just nerved, 

To act to-morrow what he learns to-day: 

Here work enough to watch 
The Master work, and catch 
Hints of the proper craft, tricks of the tool's true play." 


CHAPTER XVII 


SUNSET IN THE LAND OF THE RISING 
SUN 

“My half day’s work is done, 

And this is all my part; 

I give a patient God 
My patient heart, 

And grasp his banner still, 

Though all its blue be dim, 

These stripes no less than stars, 

Lead after him.” — M. W. Howland. 

We are approaching the close. It is nearer than we 
know. Already the shadows lengthen. The jour- 
neyings are about to end in the last great embarka¬ 
tion on the silent sea. He had left his native shores 
for the Far East under most trying circumstances. 
He was leaving a wife who was hopelessly afflicted. 
During the forty-four years of their married life he 
had been separated from her a large part of the time. 
Their married life had been a beautiful romance of 
affection. Yet that romance had been consecrated 
by its dedication to the service of mankind and by 
the unwearied spirit of mutual self-denial. She was 
no less heroic than he. If he gave a life, she gave 
a husband; and if he went unflinchingly to the con¬ 
flict, she waited unmurmuring in the silence and 
claimed no credit nor wanted recognition, and in 
the few lines that I am about to write concerning 
her I feel guilty almost of a breach of confidence 
with the dead. One admonition that she gave me 
(232) 


Sunset in the Land of the Rising Sun 233 

concerning this biography was to write of her hus¬ 
band as he was, and of her not at all. 

Both of them were undemonstrative. Nothing 
could be further from display than their simple 
and normal manner of domestic life, and the most 
intimate friend of either would scarcely have known 
that they were laying the most priceless treasure of 
human life on the altar of service. Each of them was 
reticent on the most beautiful thing in their lives. 
Without that reticence it would have been less 
beautiful. But the doors of silence will sometimes 
open on the bravest hearts. This paragraph from a 
letter to Mrs. I. G. John, dated August 3, 1899, gives 
us a glimpse of his heart: 

Yesterday was the twenty-second anniversary of my mar¬ 
riage, and I would so have enjoyed a long talk with you 
about my Daisy. She has been ail the world to me through 
more than twenty years of toil, exposure, and burden¬ 
bearing. Through it all her spirit has been one of gentleness, 
patience, and courage. Never has she faltered nor complained 
of hardship or sacrifice; and not once in all these years has she 
stood in the way of duty. I sent her some flowers, and only 
wish they would keep fresh; but she knows the love doesn’t 
die. Well, this would sound foolish to another, but you will 
understand me. 

This was written on the eve of sailing on one of 
those extended separations from home and loved ones. 
He had just doubled the number of those anniver¬ 
saries when, on his forty-fourth in far-away Siberia, 
with misty eyes he recalled the fact that most of 
them had been spent away from her and spoke 
wistfully of that time—which was not to come— 
when he purposed to remain near her. 

To the end she never faltered, even when deeply 


234 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


and fatally afflicted, when each separation seemed 
likely to be final. During his first episcopal visit 
to the Orient, in 1919-20, she spent much of the time 
in a sanitarium and endured much suffering. It 
was her good fortune, in the absence of her husband, 
to enjoy the tender care and companionship of her 
daughter Mary, whose unwearied devotion was 
beyond all praise. And also Miss Kate Harlan 
was sister and loving friend through those trying 
days. But how lonely she was for her husband, no 
one ever knew. Her word to him always was, “Go 
when and where duty calls.” When he was first 
appointed to the Orient, he naturally hesitated, but 
she said: “You will go. I have been praying for those 
Koreans and they need you more than I do.” When 
that was repeated to the Korea Conference, they 
wept like children. But now the case was different. 
He had contracted a painful disease. A surgical 
operation was inevitable. His family feared for the 
long, hard journey. Physicians were consulted and 
advised that it might be possible, with care, for him 
to make the journey and return before an operation 
would be actually necessary. He gave to his loved 
ones the rather doubtful comfort that if the operation 
became necessary he would go to Soochow Hospital, 
the one he himself had founded, and have Dr. 
Snell perform it. Thus in the face of the serious 
affliction of his wife and of his own painful ailment, 
he turned his face toward a new missionary frontier. 

When he reached Shanghai, on July 8, 1921, he 
spent a few days and then went into the famine dis¬ 
trict. After making investigations there for the 
American committee of which he was a member, he 



MRS. DAISY KELLEY LAMBUTH 







































































































Sunset in the Land of the Rising Sun 235 


went into Korea for a few days and then rushed 
on into Manchuria, visiting Kirin, Harbin, Vladi- 
vostock, Nikolsk, and points between. At the latter 
place he held a conference with the workers and 
organized the mission. This done, he returned to 
Korea and thence to Japan. This journey by land of 
over four thousand miles, with the incessant labor 
involved, would have been a severe tax even on a 
well man, and it is no surprise that it was too much 
for his frail and pain-racked body. In the cold cli¬ 
mate of the mountain resort at Karuizawa his old 
malady returned with such violence that he was 
forced to go to seek medical relief. A letter I re¬ 
ceived from him at this time is so characteristic and 
so revealing that I quote it entire: 

My Dear Doctor Pinson: It seems necessary, under the 
circumstances, that I write you a few lines concerning matters 
that pertain to the several Missions in the Orient. After 
landing in Shanghai, on the 8th of July, I proceeded to 
Soochow the next day and spent two days; then returned to 
Shanghai and left, on the 14th, for the famine area, through 
which I pressed, by rail, and satisfied myself that nothing 
more, in an organized way, needed to be done by the com¬ 
mittee in the United States. I went to Songdo, Korea, via 
Mukden, and spent three days with Dr. Cram and then, with 
the party of four, including Cram, Taylor, Brannan, and 
Ryang, went north into Manchuria, visiting Kirin and Harbin. 
We have already decided to hold the Annual Meeting of the 
Siberia-Manchuria Mission on July 31 at Nikolsk, instead 
of at Harbin. 

From thence we proceeded to Vladivostok, where we spent 
a couple of days, then returned to Harbin and turned south¬ 
ward to Songdo, arriving there August 10. Here I spent nearly 
two weeks recuperating from a severe cold, contracted in 
Nikolsk; but took advantage of the opportunity to go over 
plans and policies for Korea and Siberia with Dr. Cram; with 


236 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


Miss Myers concerning the new woman’s plant in Seoul; 
with Deal and Carter about their industrial work; then went 
to Wonsan to meet the presiding elders on one day and the 
medical men of the Mission on the next. Returning to Seoul, 
I reviewed the Seminary educational policies and how best to 
conserve the results of the Centenary work, with Drs. Hardie 
and Cram. During this visit I had an interview with the 
Governor General in an effort to restore Miss Smith, who had 
been retired from the principalship a year ago. 

I outline the foregoing, so that you may see that nothing 
has been neglected. In fact, almost every possible preparation 
has been made for the Annual Meeting of the Korea Mission 
and for the Annual Conference. 

On Monday night I reached Karuizawa, where the Annual 
Meeting was to begin on Thursday, August 30. For three 
days I was able to preside and meet with the district super¬ 
intendents. By Friday it was imperative, under medical 
advice, to leave for a lower altitude, where it was warmer and 
where I could get much-needed and skillful surgical attention. 

The appointments were all carefully made out before I 
left. Dr. Newton took the chair and Dr. F. S. Parker, by 
his presence and counsel, rendered most valuable assistance. 
Words fail to express what I suffered during the eighteen 
hours of travel and a night spent in Tokyo. 

My long-time friend and dear brother, W. E. Towson, took 
me to the United States Naval Hospital in Yokohama, where 
Dr. Raymond Speer, who is surgeon in charge, relieved me 
temporarily. I was brought to the Yokohama General 
Hospital and have been under his care for nine days, with 
but little amelioration of conditions and must go on the table 
to-morrow morning, Monday, September 12. The surgeon is 
spoken of as one of the most skillful in Japan, the institution 
is well ordered in every respect, and I have every attention 
a reasonable patient could expect. 

This is evidently a return of the attack, in a much severer 
form, on the “Empress of Asia” during the last week of the 
voyage before reaching Kobe. As you know, I went on to 
Shanghai, to have the company of Brother Nance in case of 
an emergency and to get the continued benefit of the warmer 
atmosphere, which through elimination relieved the pelvic 


Sunset in the Land of the Rising Sun 237 


organs. I was so anxious not to fail in meeting my appoint¬ 
ments that I pushed on to Korea and Siberia, making the 
land journey of something like forty-two hundred miles 
without any great discomfort. The Korea Annual Confer¬ 
ence will begin its session Wednesday, the 14th, but every¬ 
thing, to the last detail, has been provided for excepting the 
ordinations. They will elect their own President and I have 
authorized Dr. F. S. Parker to represent me in such matters 
as may pertain to the business of the Board of Missions. 

The only remaining official business is that of holding the 
China Mission Conference, in Soochow, October 19. My 
surgeon says that I will not be able to travel under thirty 
days. If I find it impossible to reach the Conference by the 
date mentioned, I will postpone it for two weeks. If I do 
not make a good recovery, the presiding elders will be in¬ 
formed through Dr. Hearn and they will be under the neces¬ 
sity of carrying out the schedule without my presence. 

It is with the keenest regret that I am obliged to make this 
statement, but the necessity is upon me. I do not regret 
coming, save for the absence of my wife and daughter at 
this juncture, and I long for their presence and ministry. 
But Mrs. Lambuth and I committed ourselves to God years 
ago, when we first entered the Mission field in 1877, and we 
and all of our interests have been absolutely in his hands from 
that time to the present day. 

Brother Towson read me the following words this morning 
from 1 Peter iv. 12, 13, 19 (Moffatt’s translation): ‘‘Beloved, 
do not be surprised at the ordeal that has come to test you, 
as though foreign experience befell you. You are sharing 
what Christ suffered; so rejoice in it, that you may also re¬ 
joice and exult when his glory is revealed. ... So let those 
who are suffering by the will of God trust their souls to him, 
their faithful Creator, as they continue to do right.” 

I have never experienced such joy in the ministry of the 
saints. The missionaries have manifested a tender solicitude 
as children to a father. I thank God for them and for the 
native Christians, who have been equally thoughtful and 
affectionate. May grace and peace abound in the hundreds 
of Churches that have been established through godly men 
and women. 


238 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


Since this has been dictated while lying in bed, and I have 
no means of copying, I will get you to forward this to Bishop 
Collins Denny, Secretary of the College of Bishops, to whom 
I shall address a few lines, to be read by my colleagues at the 
meeting in Richmond. 

I pray that God will bless you in your burden-bearing for 
others and in the many responsibilities of your office. 

Cordially your brother, 

W. R. Lambuth (per W. E. Towson). 

In a letter from Yokohama, en route , he wrote me 
concerning details such as never escaped him. 
He had arrived in Yokohama in time to welcome five 
young missionaries and to see a mother off for 
America with her children, leaving her husband to 
follow a year later. He makes various recommenda¬ 
tions concerning the health and other interests of 
missionaries, the need of an additional missionary 
doctor and a trained nurse. In closing this letter he 
says: “I am feeling better. The wonderful work in 
Korea and in Siberia-Manchuria has been a tonic.” 
The following day he wrote another letter with other 
details concerning appropriations, property, pros¬ 
pects, needs of the new mission—“for its age the 
lustiest mission we have ever started.” Happy the 
man who can find a pastime in the small cares and 
drudgeries of a great task and a physical tonic in the 
prosperity of his labors! He has discovered the 
secret of contentment, so sadly missed by multitudes. 
It was this zest for toil, this unconquerable optimism 
that sees whole harvests in every handful of grain 
and hears the song of victory ring through all the dull 
routine, that kept his muscles tense and his face 
smiling to the last. Only a few days in Karuizawa, 
where he presided at the Mission meeting with great 


Sunset in the Land of the Rising Sun 239 

and growing discomfort, and then came that hardest 
thing to a will like his, surrender to the inevitable 
and turning over the task to others. Had he yielded 
too late? 

It was a sad day for the Japan Mission when it 
became evident that their beloved leader could no 
longer stand the strain and that he must yield his 
place for a time at least. They had noted with grave 
concern the physical weakness and increasing dis¬ 
comfort against which his indomitable will was 
wrestling hour by hour. When at last he yielded, 
they knew that it was no trifling enemy to whose blow 
he had been obliged to bow. Dr. J. C. C. Newton, 
who presided in his stead, wrote: 

He left the Mission meeting after two days, and it fell to 
my lot to preside. I think I ought to write you later in 
more detail about certain matters transacted. The Bishop 
is dear to us here in Japan as no other bishop ever was, and 
his illness grieves us all. Our Japanese brethren love and 
reverence him as well as we do. 

Bishop Lambuth told us in the opening devotional talk 
of the Annual Meeting that the time had come when he felt 
that he must be with his afflicted wife more, and could not go 
so far away traveling as he had been doing; and that, therefore, 
it was not probable that he should be with us again. If he 
recovers—and God grant it—he will no doubt continue to 
have episcopal supervision of these three Mission fields until 
the next General Conference. 

Just before going under the knife, on September 
12, 1921, he instructed Rev. W. E. Towson to write 
me asking whether there was any balance on the 
China Famine Fund that he might have for the relief 
of Russian children who were starving. Accompany¬ 
ing this question was the statement, “I have been 


240 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


with the Bishop for ten days and have witnessed his 
terrible sufferings.” There are two questions I am 
asking myself as I read over that message. The 
first one is, If I were in a far country, in a foreign 
hospital, suffering mortal agony, what would I be 
thinking of and what would I be writing about to the 
friends at home? Could I forget my own suffering 
and keep my own thoughts busy about the needs of 
others of other lands and races? Would my letters 
leave my pains and mortal misgivings in the back¬ 
ground in messages to my friends? This was what he 
did. He kept W. E. Towson busy, during the two 
weeks after he went on the surgeon’s table, writing 
about the business that had filled his heart and mind 
for forty years. Those letters came to my desk for 
weeks after the news of his death had been published 
everywhere. In these letters there was no complaint, 
no murmuring, no regrets. Only once he wrote that 
he missed the ministry of his wife and daughter. But 
he said: “Daisy and I long since put ourselves on 
the altar and we have never regretted it. We are 
in the hands of God.” That dreary seven thousand 
miles of sea and land between him and his home and 
loved ones was bridged by the love of God. This was 
why he kept a steady nerve and a brave heart. We 
are not surprised to read: “He faced the ordeal with 
wonderful calmness, and his only concern was the 
work and the workers and the dear ones at home.” 

Mr. Towson, who was with him during his entire 
sickness, declares that he wrote in that time con¬ 
siderably over one hundred letters for the Bishop, 
some of them eight pages long. The last one dic¬ 
tated was to the Korea Annual Conference* This 


Sunset in the Land of the Rising Sun 241 

referred especially to the plan the Bishop and his 
wife had formed for donating a home for one of the 
superannuated preachers of the Conference. He 
said it was given as a token of their love for the Ko¬ 
rean preachers and their united gratitude for the 
prayers of the Korean Christians, which ‘they both 
believed had so marvelously held Mrs. Lambuth from 
the grave and permitted him to leave his invalid 
wife and make three journeys to the Orient. This 
was characteristic of them. This purpose was car¬ 
ried out after his death with a noble spirit of sacri¬ 
fice and beautiful loyalty to his wishes. While I 
write news comes that the Korea Conference pledged 
yen 20,000 to the Superannuate Fund of the M. E. 
Church, South, and agreed that it should all be sent 
to America as an expression of gratitude for what the 
Church in America had done for them. One cannot 
help feeling that such generous deeds as that of 
Bishop and Mrs. Lambuth went a great way to 
inspire a like spirit in the Korean Church. 

The end came September 26,1921. There had been 
fluctuations of hope and fear in the messages that 
came after the operation on September 11. But a 
sudden turn for the worse came. The silver cord 
was loosened and he found himself at the end of his 
journeyings, facing the full radiance of a shadowless 
dawn. If he must go away at an hour all too soon 
and under circumstances that are hard to reconcile 
with our human ideas of fitness and fulfillment to 
such a life, it was well that he should fall where he 
did. He consecrated by his death the land to which 
he gave so much of his life. 

16 


242 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


His father died in Kobe years before, and sleeps 
in the soil of Japan. 

The son died in Yokohama, miles away. The last 
years of his noble mother were spent in Japan and 
her grave is in China. The ashes of her son, by his 
choice, rest by her side. Thus each of this great 
trio, who shared in equal measure a unique and won¬ 
derful missionary career, died in a foreign land and 
all sleep in foreign soil. Their graves will be guarded 
and decorated and their memories kept fresh, 
tended by the two peoples to whom they ministered 
and among whom they died. 


“Beautiful twilight, at set of sun; 

Beautiful goal, with race well won; 

Beautiful rest, with work well done: 

Beautiful graves, where grasses creep, 

Where brown leaves fall, where drifts lie deep 
Over worn-out hands—O, beautiful sleep.” 



CHAPTER XVIII 


A PROPHET NOT WITHOUT HONOR 

“lam not eager, bold, 

Nor strong—all that is past; 

I’m ready not to do, 

At last, at last. — M. W. Howland . 

It was a brave fight, fruitless and fearless, and lost 
without weakness or dishonor. Supine surrender 
was not to be expected. Hence we are not surprised 
when from that bedside of mortal strife, waged in 
a far-away land, there comes to us the assurance that 
he is making a brave fight, and the clear note from his 
own lips, “I am going to get out of this.” Well, he 
did get out of it; out of the murk and fever of those 
weary weeks, he won into the light. The song and 
shining of the cloudless morning broke upon him, and 
a superb gladness illumined those last hours. His 
companion of those days found him one morning 
reading the one hundred and third Psalm, and the 
call of the sky had lured the wings of his spirit to 
a flight above the clouds and to the healing rays of the 
Sun of Righteousness. 

He began his life in China and ended it in Japan. 
In the land where his own father died, and now sleeps, 
the son met the final summons. They had labored 
together for that land, and Providence granted it to 
them to consecrate it by their death on its shores. 
The big world, with its spacious stretches of land 
and seas, has many a spot where one may die. These 
two had claimed it all for their own, and time and 

(243) 


244 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


space had swept them here and yonder far apart; 
yet within a pin’s point distance on the map these 
two wandering apostles at last fall asleep on the same 
island. 

It was his wish that he should sleep beside his 
mother in the soil of China. Accordingly his ashes 
were taken to Shanghai and there laid away with 
international honors and tributes. At least four 
nations met in their representatives about his grave. 
Governor-General Saito of Korea sent a representa- 
tative and the Consuls of both Korea and Japan sent 
personal representatives. The tears of different 
races commingled in a tribute as beautiful as the 
mount of flowers with which loving hands had 
adorned the sacred spot. There was no boom of 
guns, no pomp and parade with which the great 
of earth are borne to their graves, but the subdued 
and reverent simplicity which fitly honor the great 
in the kingdom of heaven. Tributes were paid his 
memory by Dr. A. P. Parker in Chinese, Dr. Newton, 
Dr. Towson, and Dr. F. S. Parker representing the 
Mission Board. Mr. Kong, a Chinese, and Mr. 
Yoshioka, a Japanese, took part in the service. One 
of the touching incidents of the occasion was the 
offering of a wreath of flowers by the old servant, 
first boatman to the elder Lambuth, then cook to 
Bishop Lambuth, and later cook to Mrs. Nora 
Lambuth Park. The old servant and Dr. Park 
walked arm in arm among the chief mourners. At 
the time of the funeral in China the air was shaken by 
the tolling of bells in the towns and cities of the 
entire South. In cases where the Churches of his 
own denomination were without bells other Churches 


A Prophet Not Without Honor 245 

■—Episcopal, Congregational, and others—had their 
bells tolled at the hour. Thus his was not only an 
international funeral, but it was also an inter¬ 
denominational loss and mourning. 

Nothing was more significant of his catholicity 
and of the place he held in the heart of American 
Protestantism than the messages and tributes that 
came spontaneously from the great religious bodies 
and their leaders from all parts of the country. We 
give a few of these which will serve as examples, and 
as an evidence of the unity that characterizes the 
children of God in the things that really matter, and 
their common property in the men that really count. 

The following telegram came from the Foreign 
Secretary of the Northern Baptist Board of Mis¬ 
sions: 

New York, September 29, 1921. 

We are deeply grieved at hearing of the death of Bishop 
Lambuth. We join Southern Methodists and other Christian 
forces of America in sorrow. Bishop Lambuth was one of 
God’s noblemen who was greatly loved in every land. Kindly 
convey to his family and your Board our tender sympathy. 

J. H. Franklin. 

The Vice President of the United Christian 
Missionary Society wrote as follows: 

St. Louis, Mo., September 28, 1921. 

Dear Dr. Pinson: Word has just come to me of the death of 
Bishop Lambuth and I mourn with you in the loss of this 
great man. To me, he was one of the great outstanding 
foreign missionary leaders of the world, and no man has in¬ 
spired me more. His work has been sound and constructive 
in connection with foreign missions and the cause has been 
a passion in his life. He will be greatly missed and deeply 
mourned. One of God’s saints, he went quietly through the 
world bearing the message of Christ and with absolute self- 


246 


Waltsr Russell Lambuth 


forgetfulness giving himself to the great cause. We have 
lost a great leader and all who know him will be in sorrow. 

Very truly yours, Stephen J. Core. 

The Executive Secretary of the Department of 
Missions, Protestant Episcopal Church, wrote as 
follows: 

New York, October 5, 1921. 

My Dear Dr. Pinson: It was with great regret and a dis¬ 
tinct sense of personal loss that I read in the papers the cable 
from Tokyo announcing the death of Bishop Lambuth. Will 
you let me send you, your colleagues, the members of your 
Board, and the great Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
my sincere sympathy? Bishop Lambuth always impressed 
me as a man of rarely sweet, yet vital, nature. To be counted 
among his friends was a high honor. To come into contact 
with him was invariably an inspiration. 

Sincerely yours, John Wilson Wood. 

The following is in a letter from Mr. F. P. Turner, 
Secretary of the Foreign Missions Conference of 
North America: 

The news of Bishop Lambuth’s death came as a shock to 
Mrs. Turner and me. This means that one of our most intimate 
and best-beloved friends is taken from us. We cannot bring 
ourselves actually to realize that we shall see him no more. 
The power and influence of his personality and Christlike 
life will not die, but his place in the councils of the Church, 
not only of our own denomination but of the entire Christian 
Church, will not be filled. Other men are doing great pieces 
of work and other leaders will come forward as the years go 
by, but Bishop Lambuth's place will not be filled. 

The Board of Managers of the American Bible 
Society, through its General Secretary, wrote as 
follows: 

New York, October 17, 1921. 

My Dear Dr. Pinson: I arn requested by the Board of 
Managers of the American Bible Society, at their last meeting, 


A Prophet Not Without Honor 


247 


to express to the Board of Missions of the Methodist Epis¬ 
copal Church, South, their sense of bereavement in the death 
of Bishop Walter Russell Lambuth and their very deep 
sympathy with your Board in the loss of one who has been a 
missionary leader of your Church and of all Churches for so 
many years. We can easily realize that you must feel that 
no one can fill his place. We are grateful to the Heavenly 
Father for giving to you and to all of us such a friend and 
counselor. 

Cordially yours, W. I. Haven. 

From the Associate General Secretary of the Y. 
M. C. A., to Rev. J. O. J. Taylor, Vladivostok: 

En Route to Shanghai, December 2, 1921. 

Dear Mr. Taylor: I wish to thank you most heartily for 
sending me a copy of your letter to Dr. Mott concerning 
Bishop Lambuth’s thought for Siberia. In the first place, I 
was so glad to hear from you anything regarding his last 
work. His loss came as a tremendous shock to me. I looked 
upon him as one of the few men who really had a right to 
be called “A Statesman in the Kingdom of God.” His life 
was so humble, he approached every question, so far as I 
could discover, so completely without prepossessions, preju¬ 
dices, or partisan interests, that his judgment was unusually 
sound. He was a man of large faith. Difficulties led him 
on and never staggered him. He was a man peculiarly 
sensitive to the leadership of the Spirit, and listened for its 
whisperings as a child to its mother's voice. He was scientific 
and believed in going into all the facts. He was charitable in 
his judgments and believed that others besides himself were 
forces for good in the world. I felt that we needed him so 
much after the war. I can’t think of half a dozen men in the 
whole world to whom I should so soon have intrusted great 
plans for reconstruction. You may be sure, therefore, that 
anything that he indicated with reference to the duty of the 
Y. M. C. A. in Siberia is bound to make a deep impression 
on me. 

Cordially yours, Fletcher S. Brockman. 


248 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


Below is the report of the Committee on Memoirs 
of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church at its Annual Meeting, November 
28-30, 1921, on the death of Bishop Lambuth: 

The essential oneness of Methodism is realized when, 
through all branches, the sentiment and experience prevail 
that there is a tie that binds our hearts in Christian love , a 
tie more tender, more vital, more persistent than any mere 
ecclesiastical forms or relations. That tie is strengthened, 
as the years go on, by our common trials and triumphs, our 
common joys and sorrows. 

While we tarry, in the onrush of the King’s business, to 
record the passing of our own heroes of the faith, to honor 
their names with the tribute of our tears, and to seek conso¬ 
lation in the prayers of our common faith and the sweet 
hymns of our common hope, our hearts to-day, with all their 
hallowed memories of Harris and Lewis, beat in unison of 
love and sympathy with those great hearts of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, that mourn the loss and rejoice 
in the beautiful life-record of their noble and now sainted 
Lambuth. 

The message which announced the death of Bishop Walter 
Russell Lambuth in Yokohama, Japan, September 26, 1921, 
sent a pang of sorrow through American Methodism—nay, 
through the Methodism of the world, from the Mississippi 
to the Amazon and from the Amazon to the Yangtse. Bishop 
Lambuth belonged to the South and to the North, to the 
United States and to Brazil, to China, to Africa, and to Japan, 
for in all these lands he has been a valiant soldier of Jesus 
Christ and a leader among leaders in promoting the kingdom 
of heaven in the earth, and making straight in the desert a 
highway of our God. 

Bishop Lambuth was the son of a missionary and was born 
in China in 1854. He inherited the missionary genius and 
the missionary call. By classical education in Emory and 
Henry College, and postgraduate work in medicine and 
surgery in Vanderbilt University and Edinburgh, he fitted 
himself for the career of a medical missionary and as such 


A Prophet Not Without Honor 


249 


began his work in China where to-day his memory is as 
ointment poured forth. His varied attainments, however, 
and his many gifts and graces so commended him to the high 
esteem of the Church that he was called to the superintend¬ 
ency of the Japan Mission, elected Secretary of the Board of 
Missions, became editor of the Review of Missions , was 
appointed one of the Commissioners on the unification of the 
Methodist Churches of Japan, and elected a bishop of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In all of these positions 
he was distinguished for his broadmindedness and liberality, 
his gentle spirit and keen intelligence, his genius for initiative, 
and his tireless devotion to the cause of his divine Master. 
As physician, preacher, author, editor, war-work commis¬ 
sioner, founder and superintendent of hospital and schools, 
organizer of missions, and as a bishop, he justified the en¬ 
comium implied in the appreciation expressed by the entire 
press of his beloved Church: “In the passing of Bishop 
Lambuth the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, has lost 
one of its best and greatest leaders." 

In our fraternal sympathy with our sister Church in this 
hour of her bereavement, the Board of Foreign Missions, here 
assembled, wish to record the conviction that in the passing 
of this fine spirit, this vision-gifted missionary, this eminent 
bishop, this stalwart son of God, we and the entire Christian 
world experience a loss unmeasured by words, while the annals 
of the Church of Christ will evermore be enriched by the 
memory of a life to which we would pay the tribute of our 
emulation. 

Nothing could be more fitting nor more beautifully 
fraternal than the following from the Southern 
Presbyterian Executive Committee: 

The Executive Committee of Foreign Missions has learned 
with the deepest sorrow of the death at Yokohama, Japan, on 
September 26, of Bishop Walter R. Lambuth, for many years 
Foreign Secretary of the Board of Missions of the M. E. 
Church, South, and for several years past one of the most 
prominent missionary bishops of that Church. During the 
time that he was Secretary of the Mission Board he resided 


250 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


in Nashville and his association with us was of the closest and 
most intimate character. In this association we learned to 
appreciate his remarkable ability and wisdom as a missionary 
administrator, his broad, catholic sympathies, and his 
apostolic zeal and consecration. Above all, we learned to 
love him for the spirit of love and brotherhood that was 
always manifest in nis attitude toward us in our dealing with 
matters of common interest and with measures of cooperation 
between the Executive Committee and the Board of Missions. 

We feel that special mention should be made of the es¬ 
tablishment under Bishop Lambuth’s leadership, in response 
to the urgent invitation of our committee, of the Methodist 
Mission in the Congo; of his visit to the leading station of our 
Congo Mission at Luebo, and of the volunteering of three of 
our most prominent native ministers and a number of our 
Church members at Luebo to go with Bishop Lambuth and 
assist him in the opening of the first station of the Methodist 
mission. This event stands out as perhaps the most remark¬ 
able instance of interdenominational cooperation in the history 
of missions, and one that would only have been possible under 
the leadership of two such men as Bishop Lambuth and Dr. 
William M. Morrison, who was then in charge of our work 
at Luebo. 

We feel that the death of such a man at such a time as this 
is an irreparable loss to the whole Church of Christ, and that 
we are entitled to share with our brethren of the M. E. Church, 
South, this great common sorrow and bereavement. 

We would also hereby express to the Secretaries and mem¬ 
bers of the Methodist Board of Missions and to the bereaved 
family and friends our heartfelt sympathy and the assurance 
of our earnest prayer that the God of all comfort will extend 
to them his comforting grace according to their need. 

In the congregations and Church bodies through¬ 
out his own Church memorial services were held and 
tributes written and spoken that did him higher honor 
than any other leader of his Church ever received. 
Many of these have been printed. It would mani¬ 
festly be impracticable to print them here. Two 


A Prophet Not Without Honor 


251 


of them are so representative as to warrant partial 
reproduction, even at the price of some repetition. 

One of his episcopal colleagues, Bishop James 
Atkins, published the following in the Christian 
Advocate of November 18, 1921: 

The College of Bishops at the fall meeting in Richmond, 
Va., gave one session of their conference to a consideration 
of the last work and the death of their beloved and honored 
colleague, Bishop Walter R. Lambuth. Among other docu¬ 
ments read to the College by its Secretary was the Bishop's 
last letter to the General Secretary of the Board of Missions, 
wherein was given a very simple and unpretentious report of 
his amazing labors just preceding his going into the hospital 
at Yokohama for a major operation. This letter was dictated 
the day before he was operated on. 

The bishops, knowing that my acquaintance and friend¬ 
ship with Bishop Lambuth began when we were schoolboys at 
Emory and Henry College, and that we were intimately 
associated for more than forty years, asked that I should 
prepare for them a suitable sketch of the life and labors of 
this remarkable man. I begin that work with regret that my 
limitations of time and ability must prevent my doing justice 
to the memory of one whose merits and achievements deserve 
a volume rather than a mere sketch. 

I have never known a man of more apostolic spirit and 
enterprise than were those of Bishop Lambuth. This, of 
course, implies many qualities of an extraordinary kind. He 
was broad-breasted and took into the realm of his sympathies 
the men of all nations and men of every class. He was equally 
ready to procure bread for the hungry and clothes for the 
naked or to relieve or heal by the skill of a physician or instruct 
the ignorant or preach an uplifting and saving gospel to whom 
he could reach either by private wayside contact, or in the 
great multitudes. 

I have said that Bishop Lambuth had the apostolic spirit, 
and this implies that he was a hero, for to be an apostle of 
the larger mold means to be a hero of no small dimensions. 
Such truly was Bishop Lambuth. He through a lifetime 


252 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


traveled the paths of danger and self-sacrifice, and yet he 
carried at all times so fully the made-up mind to serve at all 
costs that he was afraid of nothing. The dangers of the high 
seas, which he almost inhabited and from which he was more 
than once in jeopardy of instant death, did not deter him. 
And when his duties called him to the jungles of Africa, where 
he was in danger from wild beasts and wilder men when he 
had to be hourly on guard against the insidious diseases of 
the land, he was unperturbed, though on one journey he 
traveled on foot amid these menaces for fifteen hundred 
miles. 

When he went at the call of distress to do war work in 
Europe, he showed the same courage that sustained him amid 
the quieter menaces of the African jungles. He braved both 
the noisy dangers that lay near the front and those unseen, 
unheard dangers which lurked everywhere in that dreadful 
field. 

But great as was the Bishop’s courage in facing the hard¬ 
ships of his apostolate, there is another, a quieter side on which 
he showed an equal spirit of sacrificial devotion to his work. 
I refer to his frequent and long-continued absences from 
home. This does not mean so much to those who did not 
know him in relations with his home. I have known no more 
devoted man to his wife and children, and he was the idol of 
all the household. To leave the sacred warmth of such a 
circle, placing continents and seas between them and him for 
many months at a time, was without doubt the supreme test 
of his consecration. 

Intellectually considered, Bishop Lambuth was a most 
interesting character. He was a man of quick discernment, 
rare powers of observation, a retentive memory, and good 
powers of generalization. Wherein his logical faculty seemed 
in a measure to be at fault, it was due to a certain intuitive 
power which often found the conclusion without regarding the 
usual processes. His mode of thinking was clearly tinged with 
the Oriental habit. There was a sphynx-like element in his 
thinking. He did not always reveal even to his most intimate 
coworkers his final thought on a subject till the time came 
for putting his thought into policies for advancing the king¬ 
dom of God. Then he was always clear, final, persistent. 


A Prophet Not Without Honor 


253 


He had, withal, an unusual power of winning men to his 
views without allowing them to feel that any force had been 
used to land them. He was also a most diligent man. He 
was never unemployed and never triflingly employed. In 
the effort which men have made to define genius the conclusion 
usually reached by the great is that genius is work, hard work. 
By this measure as well as others Bishop Lambuth was truly 
a genius. This might be easily and interestingly shown if 
there were space for an account of his achievements in the 
lines of personal work in all parts of the world and in the 
literary work which he did. 

Bishop Lambuth was, furthermore, a man of extraordinary 
social qualities. He was modest and unassuming to the last 
degree. He was always much more interested in other people 
and their views than he was in himself and his own. I 
have never known a man whose furnishing in reminiscence 
and incident gathered from the whole world was richer than 
his, and yet in a lifetime of association I never knew him once 
to show the least aggressiveness in throwing the light of his 
knowledge upon the subject under discussion. This fullness 
of knowledge concerning all things of a social nature made 
him equally charming to children and sages. 

This affords me the opportunity to say a word in regard to 
another who is no less deserving of the praise which the Church 
is bestowing and will continue to bestow upon Bishop Lam¬ 
buth. The world is prone to forget or cannot so fully know 
the quieter heroisms which oftentimes glorify our homes. I 
refer, of course, to the Bishop’s wife. I have said that Bishop 
Lambuth was withal a genuine hero, an estimate which the 
world will more and more approve as his life work becomes 
revealed; but his wife was not a whit less truly a heroine. 
She was the daughter of Dr. D. C. Kelley, himself for some 
years a missionary to China. She breathed in her very infancy 
the atmosphere of missionary life. She knew its limitations 
and hardships, but she was also able to measure the duties 
and glories of it. She chose when young and beautiful and 
gifted to become thus intelligently the wife of a missionary. 
She never through all the cares such a life involves lost her 
youthful enthusiasm for this greatest cause. She remained at 
bgme amid the deep anxieties which her husband’s exposures 


254 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


and her love for him implied and reared an estimable family. 
More than twenty years ago a blood clot at the base of her 
brain laid her hourly liable through the years of absorption to 
sudden collapse and death. What a wonderful claim that 
would have made for her husband to draw in from his world¬ 
wide sphere to the quiet of his home and his office! But his 
wife did not demand it; she did not grant it; she would not 
allow it. Meanwhile, she stayed quietly in her home, doing 
its duties and bearing its solicitudes with a good cheer which 
strengthened all who came within range of her charming spirit. 
She thus made of her home for her husband and children and 
their friends a veritable sanctuary of Christian hospitality 
which no one who has enjoyed its privileges can ever forget. 
Mrs. Lambuth’s father as a colonel of calvary followed Bed¬ 
ford Forrest through the bloody struggles and unrecorded 
hardships of the War between the States, but he was not a 
whit braver than his daughter Daisy; Bishop Lambuth 
deserves all that has been said of his devotion to the cause of 
missions, but he was no more consecrated to these interests 
than was Daisy, his wife. 

Bishop Lambuth was a genuine apostle of his Lord, de¬ 
serving to be classed with the first founders of the Church. 
As a bishop he was wise in counsel and safe and sympathetic 
in administration; as a missionary secretary I dare say that 
he was unsurpassed by any of the great men whom Protestant 
Christianity has called to that place of Church statesmanship. 
But the best of all was the unfailing goodness of the man, 
Lambuth. He was good to the core, a godly man of the purest 
and highest type. I presume there was never a day in his 
life when he could not have thrown his bosom open to the 
inspection of the world as to his motives without hesitation 
or a blush. He lived constantly as in the eye of his Lord. 
He was master of the single eye. He could truly say of his 
ministry, “This one thing I do." His whole life was in the 
best sense an immolation. He kept himself ever on the altar 
of sacrifice and service. To him may be rightly applied St. 
Luke’s monumental sentence concerning Barnabas: “For 
he was a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost." 

The Rev. J. C. C. Newton, D.D., his good friend 


A Prophet Not Without Honor 


255 


and coworker for more than thirty years, said in a 
tribute delivered in the college chapel of Kwansei 
Gakuin, Kobe, Japan, on October 31, 1921: 

We are led to observe certain striking traits of this notable 
man of God. 

First, he was a foundation layer, organizer of uncommon 
ability. Possessing the spirit of St. Paul, the missionary to 
the Gentiles, Dr. Lambuth was too progressive and aggressive 
to be content with building on other men’s foundations. He 
was not a conservative, but a thoroughgoing progressive. 
In one thing only was he conservative. He always kept his 
eyes fixed on Jesus Christ as the one unchangeable center of 
all things. Taking his bearings from this living and abiding 
center, he had the forward look and in faith and hope was 
always projecting new and better things. 

Second, his capacity for continuous, systematic work was 
marvelous. He could think of more people, plan for himself 
and them more work, do more writing, travel faster and farther 
in a given time, and do more praying than any man I have 
ever known. When he was forced to return to the United 
States, as he supposed for a brief stay there, no wonder that 
the Mission authorities of his Church laid hold upon him to 
remain with them until, as they said, they could "get out 
of this crisis.” No wonder that in a little while he sprang 
to the front as a leader recognized throughout the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, with his pen, and with voice on 
platform and pulpit, his ringing appeals to the Church to 
awake to the world call began to stir the dry bones in the 
valley. Splendid young men and women came forward and 
said, "Here am I, send me;” the financial resources began to 
increase; in fact, a new era of progress and expansion had 
begun. And no wonder that in due time Dr. Lambuth was 
elected a bishop in the Church of God. 

Third, Bishop Lambuth had another great gift: the power 
of getting into personal sympathetic contact with many 
different classes of people. He knew how to find the basis of a 
common interest with whomsoever he came into contact; 
and he knew how to hold and develop the newly made ac- 


256 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


quaintance into a lasting friendship. For instance, if he and 
four other missionaries were to undertake team work in a 
city of say a hundred thousand population, I dare say that in 
three months he would naturally come to be recognized by the 
other four as their organizing and directing leader; and in 
twelve months, he would know personally more men, women, 
and children than any of the other four, and probably as many 
as the other four put together. 

But let us come closer and look up into the face of this great 
personality in order to catch the secret of his power and leader¬ 
ship among men. On this occasion the question naturally 
recurs to us, how is it that God has wrought so great a work 
in the earth through this one man? Here is one man through 
whom God hath wrought good things in four continents out 
of the five, Asia, America, Europe, and Africa! In the larger 
missionary circles of his own and other Christian communions; 
in the high councils of the General Church; in humanitarian 
work, both medical and philanthropic; in the educational 
world; in the production of books, and above all, in the 
preaching of the gospel of forgiveness and renewed life ta 
Japanese, Chinese, Mexicans, Brazilians, to the ignorant 
tribes of Africa, to the soldier boys on the fields of France, and 
with what proved to be his last sermon on earth to a group of 
several Methodist missionaries at Karuizawa, Japan—in all 
these ways, in many distant countries, he wrought a good 
work. I ask again, Is God a respecter of persons? Why 
hath he called this servant of his to do a great work among 
men, and not one of us? The answer I humbly believe is not 
far to seek. 

(1) To begin with, Bishop Lambuth was a Christian of 
strong faith. He was a great believer, but a poor doubter. 
History and biography alike teach that the leaders of nations, 
the great discoverers, inventors, and famous scientific men, 
have all been men who believed strongly. Even so it is in 
religion—yes, more so. Men of doubts and misgivings who 
drag their negations after their feet all the days of their 
lives are not the heroic upbuilders of the human race. 

(2) He was wholly consecrated to the will of God and the 
redeeming work of Jesus Christ. Just as his faith was not 
unreasoned credulity, so neither was his obedience blind 


A Prophet Not Without Honor 


257 


obedience. After an acquaintance of thirty-three years and 
having observed his actions under all sorts of circumstances I 
testify that I have never known any man more completely 
consecrated to the will and work of God. 

(3) Bishop Lambuth lived in conscious fellowship with and 
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He united in himself 
the busy practical man of affairs, both hands full, with the 
praying, devotional spirit of the true mystic. After emerging 
from the premature thinking incident to the inquiring mind 
of youth, he was singularly free from the one-sided, narrow¬ 
minded clashes between science and religion, between natural 
law and the superanatural, between reason and faith. As a 
man of culture, of quick observation, and as a man who was 
quite abreast of the theories and movements of this present 
age, he was at the same time a Christian with a personal heart 
experience and penetrating insight into the things of the 
Spirit. As a saved man, he had in his own personal experience 
resolved into rational harmony the two sides—the earthly 
and the heavenly, the human and the divine, the seen and 
the unseen. 

(4) Another striking characteristic of this Christian leader 
was his steady optimism. He was a man of visions. He 
believed in the sufficiency of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus 
and the power of the agencies and forces of the kingdom of 
God on earth to save the world. Thus he had love for men 
and confidence in them. Somehow he could easily impart 
his enthusiasm to others. Wherever he went there was 
sunshine, hope for better things. Rarely did we ever hear 
him say, “ It can’t be done.” Of course he made mistakes, 
as a pioneer and progressive man always does. Sometimes 
he had to endure sharp criticisms, not only from the conserva¬ 
tives but from the radicals, but he was ever obedient to the 
heavenly vision. 

The concluding paragraph of this memorial on the 
Bishop’s “Burning Love for Men” has already 
been fittingly quoted in Chapter XV. 

I close this record with extracts from a paper read 
by the author at the Annual Meeting of the Foreign 


258 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


Missions Conference of North America at Garden 
City, N. Y., in January, 1922. It is inserted here at 
the risk of repetition, but without apology, because 
it seems to me as fitting a summing up of the facts 
we have been dealing with through these pages as it 
would be possible for me to write now. There is 
another reason worthy of mention—that is, the 
evident heartfelt and tender approval of that body 
of the sentiments therein expressed give to it the 
character of an expression from the body itself: 

Four generations of heredity did their best in making a 
great missionary and world citizen of Bishop Walter Russell 
Lambuth. The blood of Covenanter and Cavalier flowed in 
his veins. His great-grandfather, his grandfather, and his 
father and mother were missionaries. 

He was born in Shanghai, China, and died in Yokohama, 
Japan. Thus, after ceaseless wandering for sixty-seven years, 
he faced the eternal dawn under those eastern skies into which 
his infant eyes first gazed with wonder. The yellow children 
ot China were his playmates and to the end some of his 
dearest friends were among her people. To the end of the 
journey this eager, tireless apostle of the great heart and keen 
vision was at home wherever men’s hearts ached, wherever 
souls were hard-pressed, whether it were in the slums of the 
white man’s cities, in the reeking trenches of Flanders fields, 
among the yellow men of the East, or the swarthy sons of the 
African jungle. 

His official life included four years as Superintendent in 
Japan, sixteen as Missionary Secretary, and eleven as Bishop. 
Thus thirty-one years, almost half of his life, were spent in 
official position. 

This was the most constructive, stirring, and momentous 
period of his denomination, and he was intimately related to 
the most outstanding achievements of that period. 

He did things so quietly that one is filled with wonder when 
he begins to reckon up the enterprises and movements he 
pioneered and that stand as monuments to his foresight, 


A Prophet Not Without Honor 


259 


faith, and daring. Soochow University and Soochow Hos¬ 
pital, two great institutions in China; Kwansei Gakuin with 
1,700 students and Hiroshima Girls’ School with 609 students 
in Japan; Anglo-Korean School with 974 students in Korea; 
Granbery College in Brazil—these are a few great enter¬ 
prises, each with a story of faith, perseverance, and prayer 
that can never be adequately told. He pioneered or assisted 
in opening five of the eight foreign missions of his denomina¬ 
tion. He was one of the promoters and organizers of the 
Japan Methodist Church and its present bishop is one of his 
pupils and one of his converts. 

He had a world passion. This passion lifted and ennobled 
him. It was that which most distinguished him above his 
fellows. It dominated him. His eye was ever on the far 
horizons. He stood always on the frontier of new adventures. 
This characteristic belongs to all true apostles. Like the 
first great apostle of the Gentiles, “the unknown in the dis¬ 
tance, instead of dismaying, drew him on. He could not 
bear to build on other men’s foundations, but was constantly 
hastening to virgin soil, leaving churches behind for others to 
build up. He believed that, if he lit the lamp of the gospel 
here and there over vast areas, the light would spread in his 
absence by its own virtue. He liked to count the leagues he 
had left behind him, but his watchword was ever forward. 
In his dream he saw men beckoning him to new countries; 
he had always a long unfulfilled program in his mind, and as 
death approached he was still thinking of journeys into the 
remotest corners of the known world.” 

The first impulse of his heart after his election to the 
episcopacy in 1910 was to plunge into the heart of Africa. 
The last was to set up the standard of Methodism in Siberia. 
“ He so wanted to open the new Mission,” writes his daughter 
as an explanation of his risking his life in this last journey. 
How it expresses the man! He opened the new mission. How 
joyfully he wrote about it from his deathbed! In that letter he 
gave the details of his journeyings by land and sea in China, 
Japan, Korea, Manchuria, and Siberia—twenty-four hundred 
miles to Siberia and return to Korea. The details include 
items of almost every nature from holding the Annual Meeting 
in Siberia to interviewing the Governor General of Korea 


260 


Walter Russell Lambuth 


in the interest of a teacher in one of our women’s schools, and 
from a conference with presiding elders to travel through the 
famine area in China. At a time when most men would have 
been thinking of themselves and the ordeal that waited the 
next day, he was thinking of the work and planning for the 
future. He says: “I have written thus that you might see 
that nothing has been neglected.” And again: “Everything 
to the last detail has been provided.” True to the last. 
Dying with his armor on. Not an hour wasted in self-pity. 
Going to his crowning with the grime of battle on him! 

Dr. Towson, his beloved friend, who stayed by him to the 
end—and how beautifully he writes of the love and gentle 
ministry of the missionaries—found him a short time before 
his death repeating the one hundred and third Psalm: “Bless 
the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy 
name.” Broken, racked, stricken, slowly failing, yet re¬ 
joicing in tribulation! A lifetime of prayer bursting into 
praise! Thus this man of gentle speech, this apostle of 
gracious ministry, this prophet of the far vision, comrade of 
all good people, companion of high and humble, fellow of aged 
people and of little children, Christian kinsmen of all races, 
faced the sunset in the land where he first strode into life’s 
morning. 

It is the mission of these pioneers to put future generations 
to the test. Their daring is a spur to endeavor and a rebuke 
to small aims. Their unfinished tasks are a challenge to our 
courage and a levy on our loyalty. We play the coward and 
deal in trivialities in the light of their lives at the cost of our 
self-respect. 

The chief test of a generation is whether it shall follow the 
visions of its prophets or content itself with the small business 
of building their sepulchers. It was this that called forth the 
withering scorn of the Master on the scribes and Pharisees, 
repeating their meaningless mummeries while the Judean 
skies flamed with redeeming splendor. 

This Livingstone of our day has left us a great responsi¬ 
bility. He has bequeathed us a heritage of beginnings. His 
daring and devotion call to us from afar. He beckons to us 
from the frontiers of the kingdom. By so much as we honor 
his memory, by so much as we love the cause to which he 


A Prophet Not Without Honor 261 

gave his life, by so much as we are loyal to the Lord he served, 
we are bound to carry on till the work is completed. 

“Mother earth! Are thy heroes dead? 

Do they thrill the soul of the years no more? 

Are the gleaming snows and the poppies red 
All that is left of the brave of yore? 

Gone? In a nobler form they rise. 

Dead? We may clasp their hands in ours 
And catch the light of their glorious eyes, 

And wreathe their brows with immortal flowers., 
Wherever a noble deed is done 

There are the souls of our heroes stirred; 

Wherever a field for truth is won, 

There are our heroes’ voices heard— 

For our heroes live and the skies are bright, 

And the world is a braver world to-night.’’ 












































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